Used
by NeverAgain717
Summary: When Percy Jackson disappears, a shady character in the name of Shay makes his appearances saving heroes at the brink of their deaths. What happens when this 'Shay' person was almost caught by the Goddess of the Hunt. What is 'Shay's' connection with Percy's disappearance. I deleted the story The Forgotten and replaced it with this, so yeah. sorry I suck at summaries. T 4 cussing
1. Chapter 1

**I was kind of not-liking the whole 'Chaos' concept in the Forgotten so I decided to delete it and replace it with this.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DONT OWN PJO OR HOO**

* * *

Chapter 1:

* * *

The End of the Giant Wars

* * *

_"The seven of you were destined to defeat Gaea"_

Jason and Piper were holding off against two giants with Zeus behind their backs

The hunters were shooting off the monster army while Artemis and Thalia were busy with another Titan

Frank and Clarisse were side by side with Mars

Piper was distracting the rest of the Giants' Army with charmspeaking with her mother while Hazel was moving the grounds.

Meanwhile at the ruins of Ancient Greece, a ceremony was being conducted by Annabeth and Leo and Percy where distracting Gaea

"Foolish demigods! You cannot stop me!"

Percy and Leo paid no attention

They had to be the one to fight Gaea. Gaea, earth or in other words the world, must fall to either Leo, fire, or Percy, son of the _storm_bringer, Poseidon.

Percy's mind raced when the fates offered to answer one question

He had asked 'How do I get the final piece for the spell that was needed to lull Gaea sleep?'

They answered 'you ask what you already have'

And it was like Hera-the labyrinth-and-asking-for-navigation all over again

But they had reminded him one more thing.

_"The two of you were destined to truly purely fall in love"_

Remembering that, it all clicked.

Leo, having been warned with a different way realised this.

"Percy, let me do it" Leo asked

"No!"

"But I…I can't do that to you and Annabeth!"

"And what, Leo? If I let you do this, what will you be? A robot? Another machine for Hephaestus? No!"

"Gah! You and organic life forms! No, Percy, if I offer Gaea pure emotions, _my_ pure emotions, it'll all be good. I don't have a girlfriend to lose. I don't have a family. No loss"

"But you could have a girlfriend, Leo, if you don't do this! I'm sorry Leo, but _we_ are family" And Percy bonked Leo in the head and he was unconscious.

Percy turned to Annabeth. She understood. She knew what was needed.

For a moment, she put the scroll down.

"Annabeth, I- -" and he was cut off when they shared a passionate kiss.

"I loved you, Wise Girl. I truly loved you. Always remember that I loved you with all my heart" Percy says a tear was escaping his eyes. This may be the last time he was going to see Annabeth the way he did

"I will never forget" Annabeth says now with a tear sliding down her cheek.

They kissed one last time. One last kiss. And after that, none of it will matter anymore

Annabeth started chanting in the tongue of the Old.

Percy started fighting Gaea while she was tied up, and slashed and gashed on her skin letting ichor spill when the spell required her blood.

And with that they, as one, had to give the spell one more thing to work. Pure emotion. Leo . . .he was always left out. He always felt out of it. But the emotions he felt were. . . pure. He will find someone to make him feel belonged one day, so Percy wasn't going to make Leo give up his emotions

So it only left one option

_The two of you were destined to truly purely fall in love_

At the same time, to finish the spell, the two lovers said "_I give you my destined one"_

At that moment, Percy could hear the unsaid words of the fates

_And you two were destined to lose the love_

With that, Gaea went to sleep. For how long? That depends how great and how pure the emotion was. Some estimated it to be over two millennia. But they underestimated the rarity of pure love. What the gods did not know that the love they lost was so great that the gods will fade long before Gaea wakes.

* * *

The Replacement

* * *

The Hero and Heroine of Olympus were now officially the closest best friends in all of history. Best friends, nothing less . . . but nothing more. And that was kind of a sore subject in the Modern Greek and Roman world.

Percy and Annabeth were completely comfortable with each other, but they couldn't help but notice that their friends and the gods' were the ones having a hard time believing that they were not together and grieving the loss of the two.

And the couple in question, well, they remember how they felt, they even remember the feeling, but they regret nothing because they were comfortable with each other. (that's because you gave up the love, duh!)

Well, everything was going well. That's when another prophecy came from the Oracle. It prophesized of one child of each Big3 were going to make Olympus reach its peak.

Of course hearing that, Nico was now 24/7/4/6 Persephone style. You didn't get it? Nico was now stuck in the Underworld 24 hours 7 days a week 4 weeks a month 6 months a year to train for the prophecy. Thalia was snatched up from the hunters and was on training mode in Olympus. And being the kind father Poseidon was, Percy was 'offered' to train in Atlantis (what Percy didn't know was that if he refused, Poseidon would've dragged him to the bottom of the sea, literally. But at least he asked first, right?)

Things were somewhat okay then.

But that's when Dray, Drew, and Dee sons and daughter of the Big3 arrived.

Zeus then ordered gods to give them numerous quests and Percy, Thalia, and Nico to train them and go with the quest.

Usually, the only people who did the job were the original 3 but the one who claimed the glory was Dray, Drew, and Dee.

Zeus then made sure that the three were treated specially. Their old friends dumped them for the new, except for the few who stayed loyal.

Hades didn't really show favoratism between Nico and Dray (since his favourite will always be Bianca) so while Dray drowned in his fame in Camp, Nico spent more time with his father.

Thalia gladly escaped via going back to the Hunter again

And Percy . . . well, Percy couldn't take being used and disposed of by the gods so he kind of disappeared...and it's been 717 years since.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pjo or Hoo**

If there was one thing the Goddess of the Hunt did not like as much as boys, it was being bested. And that's exactly what the other people think she was, or at least that's the way Artemis sees it.

See, she has never failed to hunt anything or anyone.

At least, that is until Percy Jackson. He has disappeared from the face of the earth for the past 717 years. It was infuriating.

It was as if he just stopped existing.

He led the hunt in a wild goose case.

Then there were rumours in Camp Half Blood that when just about in every quest, when the heroes were about to die, someone would save them and give them shelter and food for a while. He had black hair and red eyes, but then the questers were ordered that if they meet the man, they are to see if he wore contacts. And his red eyes really were contacts, but when he put the contacts out, he revealed that he had brown eyes. His name, as he informed the questers, was Shay

As if that wasn't enough, when the Hunters were in a pinch, as in trapped, they would be somehow rescued by a man named Shay. But no hide no hair of him was ever discovered.

This was the last month to hunt for him, but Artemis felt like it was no good. That is, until on the second week of the last month, Artemis thought of something.

But it was risky.

There were low chances of it as a success

She could endanger her whole hunt.

And thus the reason why right now the Hunters were separated in the woods: most of them were trapped, the other few where surrounded by monsters.

They believed that Artemis was gone for the time and left them in that particular mission(which Artemis knew they would fail). Little did they know that Artemis was there, watching, waiting for the last moment before saving them.

The monsters were about to attack, and Artemis sighed. Guessed she failed. She was going to swoop down and save her hunters when a cloaked figure came down and started killing the monsters.

Once they were safe, he looked at the hunters, gave them some nectar and ambrosia and some extra cloaks for warmth from the snow.

At that moment, she saw the trapped hunters running to get the others away from that cloaked figure. Artemis was inwardly grinning. Success, even if this man might not be Percy Jackson, she was certain that this man was Shay, the person who kept helping when heroes were about to die from quests.

She materialized in front of the hunters

"Restrain that man!" Artemis shouted. The other hunters lunged, but her lieutenant, Thalia, hesitated. Maybe that was just Artemis' imagination? It must be.

The cloaked man seemed to avoid the hunters' effortlessly. It didn't help that they were drained and were very slow because of lack of energy.

And so, all the hunters backed away from him warily, thinking what the best way to approach him next was

Artemis decided to intervene.

"Show yourself, _boy_" He turned his attention to the goddess and bowed. "Lady Artemis," the cloak man said

"Tell me your name" Artemis demanded

Unknown to everyone, Thalia gulped and was very nervous

"My name is Shay"

"Remove your cloak"

He paused as if contemplating what he was going to say.

"I am sorry, Lady Artemis. I do not follow orders from you"

This enraged Artemis. Her father would surely want to know who this 'Shay' person is. Actually, he declared that should any information or should anyone find either Shay or Percy Jackson, they must be brought before the council immediately

"And I am under orders by the King of the Gods to take you before him"

Thalia secretly gulped.

"I really am sorry, Lady Artemis, but I do not follow orders from you"

"Even from the King of the Gods? And tell me, if I were to force you to come with me, what would you do?"

"You see, Lady Artemis, I am . . . not the Shay you wish to find. Now, the one you wish to find is also near. But I won't tell you where that 'Shay' is either. Now please, I have done nothing to harm your hunters. Let me be on my way"

"What do you mean not the Shay I wish to find?! There are others?! Hunters! Patrol you're surroundings!"

And the hunters were about to disperse when 'Shay' shot out a fire ball to the sky and it exploded red as if a beacon.

"I have warned them now. They will leave me and you will not be able to find them"

"But I can still bring you to Olympus! I shall drag you there if I have to!" Artemis was now furious

"But I do not take orders from you, ma'am"

"Who do you take orders to then?!"

"Only two people, my Ace and his patron. Speaking of my Ace, I have orders not to be caught so…" and he sprinted off to escape through the woods.

Artemis of course was going to catch up with him, but soon she found herself chasing nothing but a shadow. But all was not lost. Just before the chasee escaped the chaser, she saw a crest at the back of that 'Shay's' cloak.

"I shall be on Olympus. Thalia, lead your sisters to Camp and stay there for further instructions" Artemis says before teleporting to the throne room.

Thalia sighed in relief, though no one knows why, and asked Phoebe to do a head start and go ahead to Camp and she'll just meet up with them. She had to recheck some animals that she saw in the forest that needed help first. They agreed with this and went on first. Of course, Thalia was lying and what she said was just an excuse.

As to why she was lying. . . well, she has been lying for quite some time now.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PJO OR HOO**

The Throne room was buzzing in Olympus. It seems that Artemis has finally had some news. They can finally end this 717 year old mystery. Or at least part of it

Poseidon was the most cheery he has ever been in hundreds of years at the thought of news of his sons

Apollo was scoffing about knowing Artemis not being able to find someone was too good to be true

Dionysius was just reading a magazine about wines and Demeter was saying something about cereal. Hades was being forced to eat cereal.

If anybody paid attention, you could see a tiny bit discomfort in Hestia's little fire and that Ares was trying to conceal his shifting from being in Ares mode or Mars mode.

Artemis arrived and so did the rest of the gods.

The king of the Gods arrive the last and started the meeting.

"Daughter, tell me of the news"

And that's when Artemis started relaying what has happened. The Olympians were listening intently, and no one cut in or gave side comments for they were too curious to hear the whole story. As the short story was ending, Artemis took a deep breath.

"He escaped from me" she said and Apollo started ROFL which in turn caused him into becoming a jackelope. Luckily for him, Zeus ordered Artemis to turn him back.

"So we are back to square one again?" Poseidon asked and they knew the sea below on earth was darkening. Ares, unnoticed by anyone except for Hestia, relaxed a bit and Hestia, also unnoticed, sighed in relief.

"No, there was one thing I saw before he had managed to escape me" Artemis says looking directly at Ares and suspiciously at Hestia. Said Olympians caught their breath

"At the back of the cloak I saw a crest. It a boar on fire, as if a merging of two gods' or in this case" Artemis paused, "merging a god's and a goddess's symbol into one"

Hestia sighed. Well, they would've been caught sooner or later, she thought. Meanwhile Ares face palmed at the failure of his.

"What is the meaning of this, son and sister?!" Zeus demanded.

Artemis took this as a cue to sit back down. Hestia was calm and Ares had switched from Mars and back to Ares.

"It is as you thought" Hestia says.

"Then you have known the location of this man and had not told us?!" Zeus bellowed

"And you son!" Zeus said. "Oh, father, don't look at me. At these things, Hestia takes charge" Ares says and his voice sounded defeated.

And thus began the heated discussion. Zeus demanded the man to brought, Hestia denied. At the end of it all, Hestia sighed and agreed.

"Bring the man to me, I will have Artemis make sure he is the man she met!" Zeus said

Hestia snapped her fingers and in a column of fire, a cloaked man appeared.

At first, the cloak man was confused and he took a second to take in his surroundings.

"Why am I here?" He asked and when he noticed Ares, he kneeled at him and to Hestia were he stayed kneeled.

"I am sorry. I was forced to bring you" Hestia says and the cloaked man nodded. "It is my fault to be careless enough to get caught"

"I demand to know your name!" Zeus bellowed. He first looked at Ares, who shifted into Mars. Mars nodded. "My name is Shay"

"Take off your hood!"

"He will not! I have promised him escape from his identity! You cannot take that from him!"

"I am you're king! You follow my orders! I only wish to see the man who had done our heroes and children favour, reward him rightfully, and know that he is not a threat to us!"

"He is not a threat. Mars and I are his patrons!"

"Excuse me father, ask him about his brothers. He mentioned something about having brothers" Artemis says and Zeus looked expectantly at Hestia who sighed and two columns of flames appeared once more with two cloaked men.

"Where are we?" they say in confusion and Shay had whispered something to them and the two nodded.

"Introduce yourself!" Zeus demanded

"My name is Shay" the two new cloaked figures says at the same time

"What?!"

"We are named Shay" Shay number one was inwardly smirking. Shay number two and three, the ones that have arrived was secretly holding their laughter at bay. Oh, if they only knew.

"Hestia! It is time to explain yourself!" Zeus bellowed

"Very well" Hestia says and she looked over at Mars and nodded to him. Mars sighed and snapped his fingers.

Columns of fire appeared and cloaked men were suddenly there in their confusion. All of them were boys, and their numbers, rivalled those of the Hunters. Like the hunters have wolves, these group of people had either tigers or lions at their side. One in particular had a very huge lion at his side. and unlike the others, his lion was white.

"Introduce yourselves!"

And all at once, the cloaked men said "I am Shay"

Mars couldn't hold it in, he laughed at the utter confusion his father was in.

"Come down brother" Hestia says and instantly, Zeus visibly relaxed a bit. "We are the patrons of these people. Think of them as our boy version of the Hunters" Hestia smiled warmly.

Artemis looked appalled and Apollo looked interest.

"How dare you create this without my permission!" Zeus said and thunder rumbled.

"Would you rather I have not then? And all of your children who have gone and been saved by one of my 'Shay' will be dead" Hestia said a little irritation in her voice which surprised the others. Hestia never got too involve in the argument

"Very well, I shall let them go, for now, if they swear to do what is good and follow you're rules, sister" Zeus said begrudgingly.

"I have a question" Artemis said. "Who is your Ace?" Artemis asked.

Shay number 1 face palmed. "I should never have mentioned the word Ace to you. For that," Shay number 1 turned to Hestia "I am sorry to have betrayed information"

"You have left something secret again, sister?! Reveal everything! That is an order!" Zeus bellowed.

"Well, father, if you must now, the Ace, is their leader," Mars said snapped and a column of fire erupted and another man, but this time while the cloak of the others were white, his cloak was pure silver and he was lying down on top of a just as silver wolf.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN Percy JACKSON**

Seven Hundred Seventeen Years Earlier

Percy Jackson was betrayed . . . wait, that isn't even the right word. To betray, you must have trust one and use that against him. The king of the gods never trusted him, and so he was not betrayed. He was used.

His king threw them out like trash and was replaced by a so called 'better' version of them: Dray, Drew, and Dee. He scoffed. They were more like pirated, and Percy was the original, although Percy didn't think like that.

His true friends hated the 'replacements'

Thalia was hurt but made her way back to her family. Nico, who always knew Bianca was his father's favourite and was used to it, fled to the Underworld.

Percy's father was obviously torn between his daughter, Dee, and his son. He both favoured them. But when Drew and Dray accused Percy of things when it was them who actually stole the glory (though no one knew) and the King of the gods backed the three up, the god of the sea had no choice but to side with her daughter.

And so he fled, with only a letter left at camp. He didn't plan to disappear entirely. He went back to his parents only to find them….dead. More specifically, murdered

It enraged him that he created the world's most intense earthquake and tsunami in history. And you know what the King of the gods did? He punished him! He punished a boy because he grieved his parent's death.

That's when he ran away and took on a new identity.

As he was making himself comfortable in the woods, he had offered to Hestia, to Hestia alone, some food praying _this is my new home now, with myself, and I offer it to you, Lady Hestia, that since hope survives with you the best, you may have hope enough for me for I have none now_.

And that's when Hestia appeared to him smiling hugely.

"Lady Hestia" Percy had bowed.

"Tell me, Percy, why have you no hope?" she asked kindly and amused.

"The gods have made me stop aging as one of the gifts for Olympus. I daresay that now that I think about it, it was more beneficial to them that their heroes were partially immortal than partial immortality being a gift. Now I have forever to roam around without a purpose" Percy says bitterly.

"What do you say, if I give you a purpose?" Hestia smiled. Percy looked at her and Hestia never saw eyes as sincere as his. "Then I shall serve you even against the world" Percy automatically said.

"I shall make you my Champion. Do you accept?" Hestia asked and Percy nodded.

"I accept, and wish to change my name to Shay"

A few days after that, Shay told Thalia and Nico about this and informed them about his oncoming 'disappearance'

Of course, they'll get to see Shay secretly and such, but they swore not to tell anyone though Shay never asked them to swear.

A week after Hestia pampered Percy as if he were his own son, Shay was sent on a mission were he found Blackjack who faked his own death for Percy, and were he found his silver companion who he named Aku.

A year after that, he had offered Nico and occasionally Thalia to go on Hestia's mission with him as a form of bonding. In those missions were the times that Thalia was 'claimed' by her black Tigress, which she named Nix. It was funny because the Tigress' stripes were white, but all over she had black fur and Nix meant 'snow' in Latin.

It was also one of the times were Nico found his companion, a white lion, and named it Pisto which came from pistos that meant 'loyal'

Five years then, he had a mission from Hestia. During the mission, he chose to 'almost' fail it just to make sure to 'save' Mars from one of his predicament and thus Mars offered to be his patron

Three years after that, Percy seemed to find a knack at finding demigods. He led the demigods to camp as discreetly as he could. But one of the boys (this happened every time he found demigods) wished to accompany him.

Of course, he would not allow it. They would never see their parents, so he asked Hestia, and the two of them offered a deal. They would send the demigods to camp. When there were girls, they made sure to send the girl to camp when the Hunters were there so that she be given the choice to join as soon as possible.

Of course, each demigod Percy delivered; he erased a part of the memory they had of him. But when those demigods felt unwanted, their memories rush back to them and the location of where Percy can be found so that those demigods can join them.

"Are you sure you want to join?" Percy asked the first one to join him

"Yes"

"Then from now on you shall be called Shay. Now, introduce yourself to me" Percy asked

"My Patron is Hestia. I am Shay" the boy says

And that started it all.

Present Time

Percy was a bit anxious. He had just been informed by his lieutenant that one of the boys had been caught by Artemis but escaped. Hopefully, Thalia didn't have to help the kid and get in trouble.

The kid was able to rendezvous with the Pack, that's what they call themselves, safely and headed to flee. Percy was on his way to them as he just finished his mission.

They haven't had a slip up like this since the last century. Now that he thought about it, last century was a lot more dangerous than now.

He sighed. He could've had Blackjack fly him to the Pack, but with Zeus finding about this recent scene with the Hunters, he needed to clear out of the sky, so he was now lying on top of Aku.

He had his cloak and hood on. He always did. And just when he was arriving at the meeting point, he could see that camp has been set out and that the tents were ready. But what he found strange was that no one was there.

His eyes widened. O-oh. And that's when he was forcibly transported in an eruption of flame

Instead of lying down on top of Aku and staring at the starry sky, he was now staring at the Olympian Throne Room's ceiling. His eyes widened and Mars, his patron, showed him what has happened so far.

Oh shit. He has been caught.


	5. Chapter 5

**Him being Artemis's Guardian's kind of cliche, wasn't it? **

**Disclaimer:**

The Olympians were quizzically looking at the cloaked boy lying down on the silver wolf. The wolf was growling and his eyes, black where the white should be, were green little orbs.

The cloaked boy stood up right away looking back and forth at the throne room

"_Gamiseme Tora_" the cloaked boy, Percy, half growled and half groaned. He basically said 'f**k me now'

"Language," Hestia says gaining the attention of Percy while Mars just laughed. Percy's eyes widened and he bowed to his two patrons.

"Should you not address me first, boy?" Zeus says. Ah, dejavu, Percy felt. Percy wanted to snort, but he knew his patrons would not want that.

"Lord Zeus" Percy says exaggerating a bow. Of course, Zeus didn't realize this and thought he was flattering him, while the other 'Shays' were snickering mentally.

"Who are you?" Zeus asks

"I am Shay"

Zeus groaned. Percy had to smirk. Of course, they would hardly see it. You see, in the Pack, when it came to clothes, you could were anything. Be stark naked if you like. But there were some mandatory things though. For example, you have to always wear. Secondly, you have to have a cloth that wraps around the bottom half of your face (like Kakashi from Naruto XD). And then you have to wear these awesome biker's goggles. The goggles were so that they could not see your eye colour. Also, you have to wear this vanguards on your wrist with the symbol of the boar on fire. And lastly, when around someone that is not from your pack, wear the hood over your head.

"Call me Alpha since I assume every one of the Pack has introduced themselves as Shay" Percy says

"I demand that you show me your faces" Zeus says in a very I-own-you-so-obey-me tone

This enraged Alpha. Wow, just because you're the king of the gods meant that he could order everyone around.

"I do not take orders from you" Alpha says venomously

"How dare you! I am King of the Gods!" Zeus bellowed.

"But I am not a god, am I? And so, you are not my king" Alpha shoots back, turns back to his Pack and every one of them, except the boy with the white lion, disappeared in a column of flames.

"I did not permit them to leave! Where are they?!" Zeus exclaimed. Everyone was getting nervous for the kid. Seriously, no one does that to Zeus without getting burned.

"I am not obliged to answer to a- -" Alpha caught his anger and took a deep breath before he could insult the king. "I am not obliged to answer you"

"You insolent- -!" Zeus says taking out his lightning bolt. The other Olympians eyes widened and they felt sorry for the kid.

On the other hand, Alpha calmly looked over to Mars and Hestia and raised an eyebrow (his patrons can see through the cloak) as if to ask, _should I take the lightning bolt or should I show off?_

His patrons shook their heads and Alpha nodded. He was not allowed to show off. And so, he stood still and took the hit.

Well, took what got through the column of fire that Hestia put up in between them. But even with the fire, he was still blasted to the door of the throne room.

"I shall not allow you to force them to reveal their faces nor shall I allow you to hurt my champion!" Hestia exclaimed

"As king, I order you to- -!"

"Try brother! Try to order me and I shall teleport my champion and Beta, his second in command (the kid with the white lion) to a place that you shall never find! And when I do, I shall suffer you're wrath and you will have to wait for years before I am able to reform and be able to get answers, but by that time, even I will not be able to know where they are because they have fled on their own! And if you force me to unmask them, I shall break my oath bound by the River Styx not to reveal them unless with their consent and the same consequence as the first will happen!" Hestia bellowed.

Mars smirked. Silence drew in the room at Hestia's sudden outburst

"She is right father" Athena broke the silence and the other gods gape at her for agreeing to something that her father did not like. Athena raised an eyebrow. "It's obvious, isn't it? Look at Mars. They had already planned this if ever this scenario happens. I bet Mars even planned where they would be teleported and taught them all the back up plans"

Processing this, Zeus seemed to realize he has no choice to let this group go. Zeus sighed and looked sternly at the silver cloaked Alpha.

"I shall let you go, but I want you to swear your loyalty to me so that I am sure that you do not harm the good" Zeus says.

Alpha let out a humourless laugh. "You do not deserve my loyalty" which enraged Zeus further

Hestia just bowed her head because honestly she doesn't know what to do, allow her champion to be disrespectful to her King or be angry at him for being disrespectful, doing both felt right.

"How dare you-!" Zeus was cut

"How dare I? How dare you! I have given you the years that _shaped_ my life, and _broken _my life! And you tossed me like trash! Now you expect me to beg and be grateful that you would want me back?!"

"What are you talking about?! I do not know you!" Zeus bellowed

"Father, come down. He is a demigod. Most of my Pack are demigods" Mars announces

This causes some gasps from the Olympians

"Our children!"

"Hestia! You took away our children- -?!" The Olympians were cut by Mars

"Children that you had forgotten and left to dust! They had no home, not even at camp! We gave them a _home_ and they love it! Do you know what they all shared whenever they first join my Pack?! They share resentment and hatred towards their so-called _parents_! And do you know what our Ace tells them?! He defends your names! He tells them, though different to some gods, _Your parents love you. Whenever they seem otherwise, they have a reason. Some of them regret that we were born not because we're not allowed to be born, but because our parents feel like it is their fault that we are brought by the tragic fate of a hero. They all know this before we are born. It must mean that before we are born, they are already proud of us and think of us as a hero. Is it not a goddess and a god who has allowed me to make the Pack our family?_"

Some of the gods and goddesses bowed their heads in shame. Alpha on the other hand scoffed. He only meant half of it. What he meant was, and he knew that the members of the Pack got the meaning too, that you shouldn't judge your parents and the gods and goddesses first. Some of them are not what they seem, but if they are what they seem, leave them to rot because they don't deserve you!

Alpha decided to break the silence

"I have _served_ you once, you have _used me_ then, and I shall not allow it again. Lady Hestia has never wanted anything to hurt her family. Lady Hestia and Lord Mars are under your reign. I am under Lady Hestia and Mars's bidding. Is that not enough for you? Because if it's not, then I cannot give you anything anymore," Alpha growled and left out the part _because if I do again, then there might not be left of me_

Even Aku, Percy's wolf, growled. But what surprised him more was that Aku did not growl at Zeus but growled at Artemis. Artemis raised an eyebrow and the others' look suspiciously.

Aku growled some more and lunged at Artemis, all the while he grew larger and larger.

"AKU DON'T!" Alpha screamed too late. By then, Aku had grown at Olympian-puppy size and sat and snuggled comfortably at Artemis lap.

Percy could've just face palmed then and there. Some of the goddesses 'aw'ed. Way to break the tension

Zeus cleared his throat.

"Hestia, can you give me a list of some of your…groups accomplished missions and some of their next missions?" Zeus asks. Hestia hesitantly handed a scroll over

Zeus examined the scroll and made another scroll appeared as if comparing the two.

"I have decided to let you're…group- -"

"Our Pack" Mars supplied

"Yes, I have decided to let the Pack go. But to assure that they stay loyal, I shall evaluate them by having them Hunt with Artemis- -"

"WHAT!?"

"- -and it doesn't matter, because some of your hunts and the Pack's missions coincide anyway"

"BUT FATHER!"

And thus the heated argument of the daughter and father

They seemed to be talking telepathically because

Artemis was going red

Zeus was frowning and his eyebrows were meeting

Artemis became purple

Zeus had smoke coming from his ears

Artemis glared the most horrifying glare in history

And they glared at each other until Artemis sighed and nods.

"What about information of my son? Don't lie, Apollo can tell if you lie" Poseidon demanded

Alpha laughed inwardly, scoffed outwardly, and blazed in anger mentally. What son? He disowned him long before!

"I swear on the River Styx that what I've got is that he is alive, he hates most of you all that is here, wants to be left alone, and he thinks that you will never find him and I kind of believe him too" Alpha says in a rush and a smirk forms around his mouth. Well, it is true that Percy is alive, hates most of them, wants to be left alone, and Alpha really does think they won't be able to find them. Also, he only said 'what I've got' he never said 'all I know is'

Poseidon looked at Apollo who just nodded.

"Very well! This meeting is closed!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO**

* * *

After talking with Hestia and Ares, Percy arrived at his Pack's camp along with his second in command, Beta, with their wolf and white lion trudging along with them.

The camp saw the arrival of the two and quickly gathered to hear the news. Excitement, fear, and anxiety flooded all over them.

"We are having a meeting! Now!" Beta barked and all of them huddled away from the tents were Percy created an impressively wide igloo so that no one can disturb them.

Everyone was silent.

"We're off the hook" Percy says and the others collapse on their butt in a sigh of relief. Percy took off his hood, put down his goggles and cloth over half of his face revealing his messed up jet black hair, and his eyes that on the circumference of it was painted with thin red while inside was the sea green eyes that he originally had. He could always switch his eye color from bloody red, to chocolate brown, or back to sea green

Seeing Percy taking off his hood, the others took this as a sign to do the same. Beta, his second in command, only took off his goggles and hood revealing his straight jet black hair that was halfway to his shoulders and his black as hell eyes. Percy looked at him.

"Nico, how about you explain?" Percy asked his second in command. And sure enough, Nico relayed what happened.

"The Hunters? Aren't they a bunch of man-haters?" one of them said

"Yeah, we'll just get in their way, and they'll get in ours"

"Oh you guys, shut up" Percy says. "It's not like we've got a choice"

Nico was pondering on something. "Wanna fake our own deaths again?"

Now, usually, most people would find this a little morbid, but at this, the members of the Pack had light shining in their eyes

"Sweet"

"That'd be fun"

"We should have a blood death!"

"Mars would be proud!"

"Hestia would be mad" Percy countered and all of them sighed.

"All right, anyway, Hestia told us not to do anything to the hunters blah, blah, blah. And I already asked Hestia if we could fake our own deaths again. She said to wait a couple of years. Anyway, now on to the serious business. Punishment for the one who put us in this mess in the first place"

The others grinned evilly, Percy smirked, and Nico was trying hard not to laugh. They've been together for years, and it's unusual for Percy to give them punishments. They acted more like family than an elite group of assassins for Ares.

"Who was it?" Percy asked.

"It was me" a guy with chopped light-brown hair and red eyes (courtesy of Ares) raised his eyes. "As punishment, I shall" Percy paused for an effect, smirked, and he heard the boy gulp. "Do nothing," Percy finished.

The others laughed. The guy in question was one of the last to join, and since he joined, there hasn't really been a major punishment, only rumors of how horrible it is

"What?"

And the others laughed.

"We're not gonna do anything, man" Nico says.

"Yeah, 'cause when Thalia's done with you, I don't think there'll be any left to punish" Percy laughed/ The guy paled.

The new guy had already experience multiple missions wherein Thalia joined. She was quite intimidating. Everyone in the Pack except for Percy and Nico followed her command. They knew who she was. In fact, they knew Percy and Nico's story.

The Pack knew everything about each other, all the stories and stuff. It's not like they had a choice about it. Once you swear to Percy, all your life before will be relayed to all the minds of the members of the Pack and all the lives of the Pack will be relayed to the new guy, so they were very close. That's why Percy didn't change his name. When they were alone, they could freely call anyone by their real name. When they were in solo missions, they go by the name Shay. And when they were in a group mission, they go by letters so that no one knows of their identities

They all knew Thalia would be pissed, because she worked so hard to make sure they stayed secret when the Hunters were hunting them down

"Okay guys, one more bad news" Percy says and 'aws' were heard all over.

"We're going back to Camp Half Blood"

And a lot of complaints were fired.

"Look, we _know_ how much we hate it, remember? We just have to stay there for a while, because the Hunters will stay there for about two days or something. We don't have to like it, we just have to endure it. Kapeesh?"

"Kapeesh" they groaned in agreement.

To Camp Half Blood it is.

* * *

Camp Half Blood

* * *

Camp Half Blood was still the same, completely the same, well except for the fact that there were Romans in there.

Over the hundreds of years, well, in short, the humans took it too far with technology going as far as ultimately polluting the Big Three's domains that the king of the Gods decided to put disaster.

As a result, the world was now near to a Pangaea except there were a couple of bodies of water separating the continents, but either way they were pretty close

Oh and because of the disasters, lots of things were obviously destroyed, so in terms of technology, they were back in the 17th century or something like that.

So what changed in Camp Half Blood? Well, instead of the Camp being just there but just magically hidden, they decided to remove camp half blood and put two gates instead. The gates looked like two pillars with a roof

The first one had Greek designs and the second had Roman designs. When you pass that, you will be transported to the secret location of the Greek camp (if you entered the Greek gate) or the Roman camp (if you entered the other)

But once you enter, the camp was basically the same when Percy left, to his distaste. He could remember all of his so-called-friends betraying and backstabbing him all because of Drew, Dray, and Dee.

Percy scowled at the thought

He motioned for the Pack to put on their hoods, goggles, and cloths over. Nico was nowhere to be found because he was going to arrive as 'Nico' and not as a member of the Pack. You see, Thalia and Nico were one of the few demigods who knew the Pack existed but do not need to go into hiding.

At least with Nico and Thalia, they could act as spy, though one shouldn't mention that to Thalia because she is incredibly mad at herself because she feels like she's kind of betraying her mistress.

When they entered the Greek gate, lots of campers started to gather to meet them, or rather, to interrogate them. At some high points (like some of the branches of the trees, and some of the roofs), the Pack noticed the Hunters warily observing them

As one, the pack groaned. Let this damned reunion begin


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PJO**

* * *

They made their way pass the staring people. Percy ignored the whispers. Finally they were getting near the Big House when

"Hey, who the hell are you?"

Percy looked to find that it was Drew. Oh, this is gonna be good. Thalia would be forever in her favour if he kille- -, er he meant, 'hurt' Thalia's half-brother.

Aku growled at Drew which caused him to yelp and the brushed his head to nudge Percy to calm him down. Percy visibly relaxed at Aku's attempt to comfort him (Aku's in the size of a normal wolf right now)

"I'm here at the order of my Patron to stand by the hunters and to inform Chiron of our arrival and the Olympian Council's latest meeting" Percy replied in a steely voice. Percy intentionally said at the 'order' of his Patron and not 'at the order of Zeus'

"Well, why don't you show us your face and start explaining. I'm the leader here and I'm as good as Chiron" Drew says.

Someone in the pack said, "Just get out of the way. We don't deal with weaklings!" And snickers erupted from the Pack which enraged Drew

"A weakling? Oh yeah- -" just as Drew was about to get his sword, Chiron shouted

"What ho!"

Again this made the Pack laugh a bit with the though, _Ole Chiron never changes_

This was another thing, among lots of others, that the Pack had in common: they were fond of Chiron and look at him as sort of a father figure

"Drew, sheath your sword. Lady Artemis has arrived inside the Big House and informed me of the situation. Tell all the cabin councillors to meet at the amphitheatre so that they may be briefed and be ready to welcome our guests" Chiron ordered. Drew looked ready to complain, but one look from Chiron sent him running.

"Now, if I may, would you're leader come forward so I may greet him in the Big House?" Chiron asks cautiously. What he meant was _would the one in charge come so I may interrogate him?_

"I am their Ace," Percy says stepping forward and bowed to Chiron as a form of sincere respect. Chiron then bowed in turn. "Now, you are called the Pack are you not? The rest of your Pack may . . ." Chiron said not knowing whether to give them a tour or let them rest inside the Big House

Percy picked up from there

"C," Percy called and a guy step up. "You're in charge. Take the Pack and let them rest and I'll just follow"

"Where, sir?"

When in public, they address Percy formally

"Go to Cabin 13-"

"Uhm, I'm sorry my boy, but we can't just let you stay at just any empty cabin. It depends on your parentage-"

"Hestia's our patron, remember?" Percy reminded Chiron and Chiron just nodded

"So anyway, go to Cabin 13. Make yourselves _at home_" That was kind of a code word for the Pack. What Percy meant was, make the necessary precautions and security before relaxing. "I think we shouldn't start walking around for a while with the campers not knowing a thing about us. We might kill one of them" Chiron cringed at this "And stay absolutely away from the hunters because we still don't know what their reactions about us are. Got it?"

"Yes sir"

And they trudged away.

Chiron and Percy walked inside the Big House and then they talked. Percy introduced himself as 'Alpha,' the Ace of the Pack. He talked about what the Pack is. Chiron, to Percy's pleasure, asked in pure concern and hope, that they had information about Percy Jackson.

Percy was really glad Chiron still cared. In fact, it took every ounce of him not to take of his hood, wrench out his goggles and pull down the cloth from his face. But of course, he couldn't risk that.

Alpha told Chiron that the Pack had met Percy Jackson but what they know is that he does not wish to be found.

Chiron nodded in disappointment and told Alpha that if they would go to the amphitheatre to be introduced. Percy nodded and went inside Hestia's Cabin were his Pack awaited him.

Hestia's cabin was like a ranch and a cozy home.

The Architecture was amazing on it. Trust Annabeth to make simplicity be able to make you drool at the spot.

Percy's eyes widened. Annabeth

From his source of information, Annabeth was still here. Percy will be able to see her again! It's gonna be sweet to see his best friend. He bets Annabeth already has a boyfriend. At that thought, Percy smirked. He can't wait to tease her about it….oh wait, he'll just be able to see her. He can't talk to her unless he wants to reveal his identity

He was disappointed at that thought

He sighs.

"Where did you guys bring Aku?" Percy asked them as he entered and sat at the couch at the living room

They snorted. "No one can bring Aku anywhere. He's at the woods. We saw Nix and Pisto joining him. The Hunters are roaming outside" C said. Pisto was Nico's white Lion

"Got that right, C. Those man-hater horrifying monsters! Anyway, if Pisto is here, that means Nico will be arriving soon" Percy heard someone whom he thought was J inform him

"Thanks, J. We're wanted at the amphitheatre, by the way" Percy informed them. They groan. Percy had a feeling that they're gonna be groaning a lot for the next two days.

"Okay, guys. The immortal cabin counsellors are going to introduce their cabins to us" Percy says slowly so that he could give them time to let it sink. "Now, most of us are going to see our siblings" Percy continues and the others who had not caught on to what Percy was saying before had their eyes wide with realization now. "And . . ." Even Percy faltered at the thought to see the friends that stood by him when he was being cast. "And…nothing….never mind….just….just prepare yourself" Percy says almost in a whisper. The others nod.

They walk out towards the amphitheatre. To their misfortune, they stumbled across the hunters. They growled at the Pack. Their distaste for them was evident. Artemis must have already told them the news.

"Get out of our way, and leave us alone" Of course, it was Phoebe who said that.

"How can we get out of your way and leave you alone when the path you'll take is also the path I'm assigned to take. And yes, the way to the amphitheatre isn't the only thing I'm implying here" Percy says in a cool voice. The faster they get over the fact that the Pack was tagging along their little hunts, the better.

"Don't be a smartass, _boy_. And you do _not_ talk to the hunters like that" It was Thalia who said it. Of course, she was just acting like she was annoyed and do not know who they were. Meanwhile, the Pack was trying hard not to laugh at Thalia's acting. Even Thalia was having a hard time not smiling, even harder to stop laughing at their little charade.

"And _you _do not talk to my brothers like that" Percy says barely making it sound angry. If you could see under the hoods and the goggles and the cloth, you would see the ridiculous face of the Pack trying to hold their laughter. Only people part of the Pack and their patrons can see through their attire. Unfortunately, Thalia could see it also, so she was trying extra hard not to laugh at the Pack's expression.

Realizing this, Percy needed to separate themselves before he and Thalia blow their cover and start ROFL. "Look. We're stuck with each other. This wasn't _our_ fault. In fact, it was us who was _forcibly_ brought to the council and was discovered _against_ our will. Now, we don't have any grudges among the Hunters. We're not trying to do anything to you when we join your hunt for a while. And as sure as hell, we're not trying to do anything to you while walking towards the amphitheatre. In fact, why don't you let us go first so that you can watch our every move and if you find anything fishy, go ahead and stab our backs" Percy said calmly.

Thalia fake glared at Percy and nodded. "Hunters, let them pass! And you, _mister Ace_, you better watch it. Don't blame the hunters for getting caught, if _I _were the Ace in your little Pack, I'd punish whoever got you caught" Thalia announced. The Pack members smirked at the double meaning at what she said. One of the pack members gulped. The rest were thinking: _Thalia is going to punish him, this is going to be good entertainment_

Percy led the way to the amphitheatre.

When the Pack entered, all murmuring ceased. Chiron made the counsellors introduce themselves. Travis and Conner were still there, although Travis didn't have the same glint in his eyes. Percy gulped. It must be because Katie…yeah. Katie. Percy was getting guilty again. Clarisse and Chris were there. Will was still there. Pollux was alive and well. Even Annabeth was there.

The Pack quietly had a sudden intake of breath when they saw the people who didn't betray them. It was so quiet though that no one but the pack noticed.

"I'm Dray, counsellor of Hades' Cabin" Dray said proudly. That's when Nico appeared out of the shadows.

"And I'm Nico, son of Hades and Ambassador of my father, Ghost King" Nico announced that just to annoy Dray.

"Nico, my boy, what are you doing here?" Chiron said and some of the other campers said hi and hey

"Well, my father _went out of his way_" Nico was looking at Dray, just to irritate him. "to tell me about Lady Hestia hiding a little mystery Champion and his little lackeys. He told me to be here. So here I am," Nico shrugged and took a seat somewhere.

The Pack just smirked, though again, no one saw. Dray glared at his half-brother.

"My name is Dee, I'm a daughter of Poseidon" Dee says in a calm, semi-friendly, voice. It was Drew's turn and it is customary that the son of Zeus would make a welcome speech. Usually, it was Percy who made it, and if not it was Annabeth, but of course, Drew had to insist he take the spotlight

"Hey, call me Drew, son of Zeus. I want to welcome you to Camp Half-Blood. Don't be shy to use the facilities at your whim" Drew smirks and adds "But if I were any of you, I'd avoid the places me, Dray and Dee are unless you want to get your butt kicked"

The Pack just rolled their eyes, and to the Pack's surprise, most of the campers did too.

Chiron cleared his throat.

"Now, would Hestia and Mars' Pack introduce themselves to us?" Chiron said.

"No" Half of them automatically said, and the other half laughed. The others just stared at them.

"Shut up and get your butt out there and introduce yourselves! Use Code Name number 3! Now!" Percy ordered and they immediately shut up and stood. There were exactly thirty members of the Pack. The Hunters had 30 too. The number dwindled in the centuries

"I am Alpha" Percy said

"I am A"

"I am B"

"I am C"

And this went one. It didn't matter anyway, with the hood, no one could tell the difference between them.

The Pack members were laughing their butts off with the 'A, B, C' thing. Thalia was trying hard not to laugh, and Nico couldn't hold it in. Even some of the other campers snickered at the silliness of the name. But hey, to others, they were cold, but to themselves they like having fun.

After the first 26, it became AB, BC etc.

After that, Chiron made a speech about welcoming us and went on to other business. Nothing captured the attention of the pack until

"And now we shall discuss tomorrow's Capture the Flag" Chiron says. "Usually, when the hunters are here, we have them on one side and the campers on the other, but with the arrival of the Pack, shall the hunters and the Pack form an alliance?" Chiron suggested

"NO!" they all screamed. The Pack was grinning evilly, and Percy knew why. He sighed. Might as well let them have some fun

"The Pack wants to fight against both the Hunters and the Campers" Percy announced. The Pack said some 'yes' and 'alright!'

"We shall not have an alliance with anyone!" Thalia said for

"Then don't. The Campers will have one flag; the Hunters will have another. The Pack will have to get both your flags, but you two will only have to get ours to win" Percy reasoned.

"Don't belittle us!" Phoebe exclaimed

"We're not. Look, if you don't want us to be on the way of your camping, you might want to know that we're capable. Why not find out through this?"

"Alright," Thalia says before a fight breaks out. "We agree" and the campers agreed as well.

"I shall not participate" Percy announced. The room had different reactions.

The campers stared at the man who seems to be the leader. Drew snorted 'coward'

Meanwhile, the Pack exclaimed "YES!" "FINALLY!" because they knew if their leader was there, they'd get less action.

"Then I shall not participate as well," Thalia announces. Phoebe seemed to be shocked and Thalia whispered something to the Hunters and they just smirked and nodded.

"Well, I'm not a camper, and I was going to go away" Nico began. Obviously, going away meant pretending to go away and return as the lieutenant of the Pack. "But this seems interesting, I'm gonna watch. Father would be happy to see if the Pack can even at least not die at the hands of his son" Nico says smirking. He was sarcastic but Dray seemed to like the chance to show off to his father.

"Alright, if there's nothing more, then- -"

"Actually Chiron" Percy asked. "If you don't mind, I'm guessing my brothers L, V, and a few others would want to shoot some in the archery range. But most of us would prefer the arena. May we?" Percy asked.

"Of course, you may"

"Alright! Everyone is dismissed. You may do what you wish the whole day: strategy meeting for tomorrow, or whatever. You may go"

And with that they went away.


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PJO**

* * *

Chapter 8:

Percy met up with Nico after he supposedly 'needed to leave camp.' And obviously, Nico arrived with his cloak, and discreetly joined his brothers.

Percy led about two thirds of their brethren to the arena. The other third was either climbing the lava, checking out the forges, or hitting some archery ranges

"Chose a partner!" Percy commanded and they automatically chose one. His brothers were excited. When Percy says 'chose a partner' no one knows if they were going to fight their partner, or fight with their partner against another pair.

"Spar!" Percy said and they happily obliged. So one VS one it was

The campers were awed by the finesse and grace the Pack showed.

"C! You are too slow, dive in and get out quickly! Feel the rhythm! G, you're stance is too open, that's why C is getting some hits, guard up!" Percy barked

"J! You have feet, use them, not just your arms, remember that! Z, stop playing with J! It's him you want to slice up, not his sword! Stop blocking!" Nico says

"D, stop using offense as a defence; that's no use against R!" Nico says

"K! For Vesta's sake, this is a sword fight, not a dodge fight! Get your damn sword out and stop dodging. N, you're faster than K, sheesh! It's just that you keep on following K's pace!" Percy say

"Yessirs!" were heard.

The campers were in awe. They didn't even see the flaws.

"Switch partners!" Percy heard. The millisecond after the 's' in partners was heard, they switched. They didn't even know who, they just clashed swords.

More campers were watching now.

After one more switch partners, Percy and Nico grinned. "Brothers! Get ready!" Percy says. "If any of you manage to take my hood off, you get to choose breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week! Ready?" Nico announce

"Alright!" Percy shouts. The Pack was still fighting in pairs, but Nico and Percy surged forward. They would attack the person nearest to them behind their backs. That person will have to block Percy and then his partner will get a chance to either unhood Percy or Nico or attack his partner who was being attacked by two. They had to do this before Percy was able to move on to a next opponent.

And they had to unhood him before he reaches the last brother. Obviously, Percy and Nico's hood remained up.

"On to two's!" Nico shouted and each pair found another pair to fight.

It has been one hour now. "Training end! You may continue to spar or rest at your please!" Percy announced"

Percy looked at Nico. "Want to spar?"

Nico grinned and quickly jumped backwards and had his sword appear on the ground.

"Ready, Mister I'm-so-powerful-Ace?" Nico mocked

With one swift motion that no one saw, Percy uncapped riptide. But riptide looked different.

"I'm ready when you are Mister I'm-just-as-powerful-as-you Lieutenant" Percy says which made Nico laugh

At this point, the Pack gasped at the sudden realization of who was about to fight. Each of the Pack looked at their sparring partner, shrugged, and sheathed their swords and turn to watch.

"Oh my gods, this is gonna be good"

"Too bad Aku and Pisto aren't here"

"Yeah, they'd make the fight more interesting"

'It's been what? Fifteen years, since they fought publicly?"

"I know right, now shush!"

They bowed at each other.

Percy and Nico were circling each other.

In a normal speed they clashed swords, but just as their swords clashed, as fast as lightning, a series of 'twang' 'clank' 'chick' 'chug' that were unseen by the others occurred and the two quickly jumped back and proceeded circling.

Percy took the first step. They slow mo-ed clashing swords, and as soon as their swords clashed, a series of sparring began and ended just as quick, no one saw the movement, they only heard the series of the swords clashing.

"Aw c'mon Ace! This isn't much of a show! We can't see anything! Booooring!"

Percy laughed as he dodged Nico's sword and started to slash on him but it ended yet with another 'clang' Of course, all of this was unseen.

"Our brothers want a show, Nics, want to give them one?" Percy asked. It was an inside joke calling Nico 'Nics' Why? Ever since Thalia named her tigress 'Nix' Percy made it his job to taunt the two of them that the reason why Thalia named her tigress 'Nics/Nix' was because it sounded like Nico's name

"Why not, Perce?" Nico says. Of course, no one can hear them but themselves. With one final (though no one saw it) clank, they jumped backed again and continued to circle each other.

Percy lunged at Nico and Nico dodged. "Want a show, Q? We'll give you a show" Nico says, then and Percy slowing down so they could see how the battle was progressing

They moved as if responding to a beat. Percy swiped at Nico's feet, who jumped and was about to slash down on Percy's head who just quickly brought his sword up and blocked it in one swing and proceed to slashing him on the side which Nico used Percy's blade as a stepping stone. Percy then flipped backwards and Nico recovered quickly and proceeded to swipe on Percy who was in mid-flip, so he was standing on his hands

Percy seeing this, used his hands to jump, and he tried to kick Nico as Percy got back to using his feet but Nico jumped back and with one final clank, they separated. They looked like they were dancing the way they were fighting

"You can't get enough of me, can you, Mister I-shall-kill-you-by-my-own-hands?" Percy smirked

"Eh, you talking about yourself, Mister Oh-have-mercy-on-me-greatest-lieutenant-in-the-wor ld?" Nico asked and the whole pack nodded.

"Beta, you don't want _her_ to hear that you're the greatest lieutenant in the world, right!?" Someone from the pack mocked

Of course, when he said '_her_' he meant Thalia. At his Nico paled and the pack continued to laugh.

"Well, that's enough warm ups for one day, eh?" Percy called out to his pack who nodded in agreement. The campers however thought '_those were just warm ups?'_

"Pack, disperse!"

And they did just that.

* * *

"We need to talk" Nico tells Percy inside Cabin 13

Percy groaned. He knows what this is about.

"I know, I know"

"Yo, bros! We're going for a walk!" Nico called back

"Oh, please! We all know you two want to talk. Just go drama over your life already!" they answered back and Percy chuckled not at all surprise at their brothers knowing.

They walked into the woods. They stumbled across Aku, Pisto, and Nix.

When you look at the three of them, they seem to be the animal personification of their masters.

Nix, Thalia's tigress, was as regal yet punkish as Thalia. Her black fur screams 'don't mess with me' and the white stripes of the tigress gives off that elegant feeling you get when you see the lieutenant of Artemis's hunters.

Pisto, the white lion, was acting exactly like Nico, giving off that 'i-dominate-you-in-a-mysterious-way' feeling that every son of Hades does. His white fur is as white as Nico seems dark.

Aku, on the other hand, seems to be amused with the other two. Aku seems to be taunting Nix and making fun of Pisto. His silver fur gave off the aura that you want to be given attention by Aku like the way Percy makes you feel like you want to gain his attention.

Pisto and Aku's head shot up as if noticing the presence of their masters.

Pisto tackled Nico and swung him by the back of his cloak 3600 so that Nico could land on Pisto's back to sit.

Aku raced towards Percy and Percy did the same. As they were meeting, Percy jumps up and lands on Aku and shifts so that once again, he was lying down at the back of his wolf.

Nix tilted her head and quickly snapped it to another direction looking annoyed as if to say, _sheesh, boys_

Seeing that, the two boys and their companions made their way to Nix.

Nico got off of Pisto and went to Nix. "Aw, you poor thing, you being neglected by your master?" Nico cooed and scratched Nix behind your thing.

"Meh, keep that up bro, and Pisto will be jealous" Percy says, not bothering to get off Aku and proceeded looking at the sky that were hindered by the woods' trees' branches. "So, what you want to talk about" Percy says switching to another language

"Why are speaking Latin for?" Nico says

"Someone might here us. But I doubt it" Percy reasoned

"What are we gonna do Percy? You can pretend all you want, but I know that you know that all of the Pack's, including you, very uncomfortable with this setup. And think of Thalia. She's practically betraying the hunters keeping all her knowledge from her mistress. You can't make her do that, Percy. We're tearing her apart because if she can't be loyal to us and the hunters at the same time. She can't help one of her family without feeling like a traitor to the other"

Percy sighs.

"Yeah, I know, Nico. I know"

"And that's not the only problem. Now that we're discovered, the Olympians will undoubtedly try to search more info on us. Sooner or later, they'll know our identities. And once they do, it won't be long until a certain king of the gods figure out the secrets we've been keeping from them. Shit, if those secrets get out, we might go to war _again_"

"I know, Nico. But in no way will we allow that certain god to know of those secrets. We'll take it to our graves" Percy says. "What's the plan now? We have to be discreet for the rest of the time we'll be spending with the hunters. We're keeping way too many secrets. We'll have to have a plan before we fake our deaths"

Percy sighs. Aku grumbles and whines as if telling Percy that he knows the feeling he's feeling. Pisto nudges Nico in comfort, while Nix who sensed Nico's discomfort had Nico combing her fur by his hands to reassure her.

"We'll have to talk to Thalia about this soon, before we leave camp half-blood" Percy says and Nico nods.

Someone gasped. Nico turned to see who it was while Percy didn't move a muscle and just lied down Aku staring at the sky. He just grumbled, "Who is it now, Beta?"

Nico recognized the owner of the voice as Phoebe's

"What are you doing with my lieutenant's Tigress?" Phoebe demanded

"I'm petting her, what else?" Nico replied

"That's…that's impossible! The only one it even allows to go near is mi'lady and Thalia herself. The last person who came near her was…." Phoebe left it at that but Percy and Nico seemed to snicker at the thought. They could so imagine Nix doing that

"Well, I guess Pisto and Aku made friends with her so she's cool with us" Percy says not bothering to sit up and look at Phoebe

"What do you want, huntress?" Nico asked

"I was just walking through the woods" Phoebe growled and made her way pass them. Once the two were sure Phoebe was gone, they resumed the topic they were talking about

"We'll have to talk to Thalia tonight" Percy said

"Dream state?"

"No, if we did, Lord Hypnos or Morpheus might hear or eavesdrop. We'll have to talk to her the other way" Percy says. Nico groaned. "Aw, that way sucks and is annoying" He complained. "But it's safer," Percy countered. "Fine"

That night, when every camper, hunter, and Pack member was asleep, Percy, Nico, snuck out.

Nico went back to the woods and climbed a tree and hid himself well in the shadows

Percy went up to the roof of Cabin 13

Thalia went over near Zeus' fist

They closed their eyes so that they'll get their maximum concentration. Usually, they can do this effortlessly, but tonight, they need to concentrate more so that no one can eavesdrop on their minds

_Okay, guys, you sure no one followed you?_ Percy asked through his mind

Absolutely sure Thalia replied

**Of course, I'm sure **Nico replied at the same time

_Thalia, I know that you know what we want to talk about today_

Yeah, whatever. Look, don't you guys worry about me. I'll…I'll keep this façade as long as I have to, just go hurry up and die already so that everyone can forget about you again

_…_

**_…_**

That was you're plan right? The Pack's gonna fake their own death?

**Thalia….we can't make you lie to your family….**

You're not making me, Nico. And you guys are my family too.

**Just stop with the façade Thalia! We know you don't want to lie! We know it's painful for you to protect us! Just rat us out already!**

Whoa, Percy thought. Nico snapped. Percy knew why. The guilt is eating Nico up. When it comes to torture, there's nothing worse than guilt. Percy'd bath any day in the River Styx again if it meant he'd stop feeling guilty at…at…everything!

Thalia was ticked off at Nico's sudden outburst

WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO?! WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME NOT TO HELP YOU?!

**That's not it, Thalia. We're gonna be stuck with the hunters for who knows how long, and we're sure as hell that Zeus will ask Artemis and all the hunters to try to figure out who we are or order you to find out who we are. And you'll have to sabotage their plans for us! Don't! And when they realise that, and all the secrets we're keeping, all the things we'd done, we're gonna drag you down with us! **

IT'S MY CHOICE NICO! I'LL CHOSE TO HELP MY _FAMILY_ IF I WANT TO! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO

**If you're so kin on destroying the huntress's life you love so much just for us, you're so-called family, then..then!**

Oh NO! Percy knew what Nico was going to say. Shit. This was going worse. Don't say it Nico, don't say it, Percy chanted

**Then we don't want you to be part of our family! You're no one to me! No one!**

Percy palm faced and he knew Thalia's eyes widened and was feeling like someone drove a spear in her heart

…

Percy felt Nico realize what he said

**I DIDN'T MEAN IT THALS, I DIDN'T! I PROMISE**

You sounded so serious to me, Thalia said and her voice….it sounded dead

**Thalia, please, I just wanted, you're like my- -**

I'm you're no one, remember, _boy_

**Thalia-**

_We're gonna tell Artemis the truth_ Percy blurts out because he was panicking. If he didn't intervene now, things would be catastrophic

**WHAT?!**

Percy, I can't ask that from you Thalia says with such sincerity that she forgot what she and Nico were fighting about

**Percy, we can't do that. If we tell Artemis, that's a HUGE risk**

Nico's right, Kelp Head. We're talking about you-dying-and-risking-a-secret-that-could-cause-th e-whole-world-to-be-destroyed risk

_Guys, I love you both. I won't let Thalia do this as much as possible so, I think it's the only choice…besides…we can just tell her 'specific' things on a need to know basis. We can still protect our secrets_

**…..**

_This conversation is over guys. Don't worry about it. We've been surviving a millennia minus a few centuries now. We'll get through this. Alright?_

But Percy- -

Something alerted Percy's concentration. It was a mellifluous voice

"What are you doing here, _boy_"

_Guys, I _need_ to go now. Nico, shadow travel _inside _the ranch. Artemis found me on the roof. Thalia, GO BACK TO YOUR CABIN BEFORE ARTEMIS KNOWS YOU'RE GONE._

With that, Percy dropped the connection

"I was just…debating in my head" Percy says and he couldn't help but smile at the true meaning of those words.

Percy drew his breath and opened his eyes. Sure enough, the goddess of the moon was in front of him. His auburn hair was straight, but at the end it twisted into wild curls. Her eyes were a replica of the moon and the moonlight acted as if it was bathing her skin.

Percy mentally shook himself

"If I may, Lady Artemis…." Percy asked cautiously. "…did you wish to speak to me?"

Said moon goddess was studying him, trying to get what little detail she can get of the mysterious Ace of the Pack's face

"Yes, I did want to speak to you" Artemis said. Artemis' voice hit Percy hard. Suddenly pieces of memories rushed through him. He shuddered at the…at the memory of that…_hell_

"I just wanted your word that you do not harm in any way my hunters" Artemis said.

_As if I would ever harm them,_ Percy thought. _As if I would harm you_, he added. _I've done everything and gave years to this goddess. I don't regret a thing and I'd do the same thing again_. If only Artemis knew just what she made Percy go through, but the things that she did make Percy go through…well, that's another secret….another secret threatening to be exposed.

"My pack won't, Lady Artemis. Do you know what things Lord Mars _engraved_ us to have?" Percy asked. Artemis raised her eyes. She was curious as to what the Pack had gone through all this years of them being unknown. And she couldn't help but notice the way the Ace said _engraved_

"Dignity, Duty, Respect. When it came to respect, we had three rules. Respect everyone you do not know: be the first to give it. None of our brothers interact with outsiders out of the Pack unless they approach us first. And if so, we give them respect. The second rule is to know who doesn't deserve our respect. And the third rule is to have self-respect. That has been the hardest on us. The way our '_parents_' treated us and made us feel nothing. It took a while before he had that." Percy explained. He didn't know why he was telling this to her. This our something never said outside the Pack. Specially the third rule, too personal

"But the third rule's not the point though. The first one is. In fact, we do not want to place discomfort to your hunters. My Pack would happily camp separately from your Hunt. We'd not touch, talk, nor breathe in your direction lest you did so first. If you even want to accomplish your missions alone, we would gladly step on the side lines and let you accomplish it without cramping your style" Percy says.

Silence enveloped them, it wasn't completely comfortable though

"May I ask another question?" Artemis says.

"Yes, Lady Artemis"

"I can't help but notice the way you said…'engraved' when you were mentioning what Lord Mars wanted you're…Pack to value…"

"That wasn't a question, Lady Artemis...but I know what you wanted to know. It's best that I show you though"

Percy released the button of his cloak and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt revealing what looked like iron-branded marks in Latin that said '_I uphold my dignity. I am bound to duty. I know the value of respect. To have dignity is to…"_ it went on and one.

Percy even went as far as to pull his hood to a side (not taking it off) to show that the iron-branded markings started from up to his neck and stopped at his shoulders

Artemis gasped at the mark, but the reason her eyes grew was because he saw the colour of Percy's hair.

"We all have it. We can make it disappear" Percy informed Artemis and true enough, it disappeared. Percy buttoned his cloak together.

"Lord Mars didn't put it on us to brand us his, but to remind us of what we must value. It disappears because it was never meant to be permanent. What was important was the endurance we held when he branded the iron against us. We didn't find it harsh. Not at all. The branding is just a reminder, there would be now damage to our body. In fact, I could have made the marks disappear forever right now. But all of us just….don't. We don't know why though, it just feels right for it to not be permanently gone"

Silence came. Artemis realized she had long before accomplished what she needed: to get the _boy_'s word. So why was it that she insisted to still talk to him? And she even had her guard down when they were talking! This is preposterous!

"I shall go, now, _boy_. Thank you" She says

"What are you thanking me for?" Percy asked

"Thank you for your word, and more importantly, for answering my question"

At that, Percy's eyes widened and he felt as if it could pop any moment. What the hell was wrong with him?! He opened up to the goddess! About things that only the Pack knew! And it felt as if telling her was the most natural thing to do! WHAT THE HELL?! He had his guard DOWN.

_"Gamiseme Tora" _I groaned

"Excuse me?" Artemis demanded

Oh shit, Lady Hestia was right, he should watch his language. Saying fuck me now to yourself with a maiden goddess present is sooo not ideal

"Lady Artemis, I…I need your word too. Whatever you have found out about my Pack, please keep it to yourself" Percy says almost begging. Almost.

"What do you mean? I know so little, and what I know seems unimportant"

"You should know nothing about it in the first place, so what you know that is little is a huge mistake for us. Please, I want your word. It is important. Like my word is important to ensure your Hunters safety, this is important for me to protect my brothers. Please. No outsider knows even a drop of our traditions yet here you are knowing about our brands, the qualities we wish to uphold, please, swear on it"

Percy was a little paranoid. After being trained by his father for how many years before he was betrayed, he had discovered secrets. Years after he was betrayed, he had discovered and created even more secrets. He feels as if a little leak of the silliest information could destroy his family, his Pack

Artemis looked bewildered. It was petty things, yet the Ace was asking him with so much sincerity as if the little knowledge she has could destroy his entire Pack. It was obvious how he treasured his Pack. He said it with a familiar passion. The same passion she has with the Hunters.

That was the thought that made Artemis swear without hesitation "I swear on the River Styx not to relay any information I have discovered when we talked this night"

Percy thanked her sincerely. And because he didn't trust himself not to reveal any more information, he was anxious to part with the goddess.

"Goodnight, Lady Artemis. I wish your hunters good luck on tomorrow's games" Percy says hoping to part with a completely different topic

"Yes, but I think your Pack will need it more" Artemis couldn't help but smirk at the boy, though she didn't know why. In fact, it was out of character for her.

"I know. Knowing them, I know they didn't even make a strategy" Percy says as he sweeps down and enters Cabin 13.


	9. Chapter 9

_"We should kill you right now. It'll do the world a huge favor" says a voice that was coming from no where_

_"But you don't want to, and you won't, right?" A hooded boy cloaked in silver replied. He was standing in darkness_

_"No, we don't and we won't. All three of us know that neither of us are the 'I'm gonna kill you for the sake of the future' type" A new voice answered. Silence enveloped the nothingness surrounding the boy after that. The boy decided to break the silence._

_"Isn't our background a little too droopy? Can't you change it to something more interesting?" The boy complained gesturing to the plane of darkness around them. The two voices chuckled and the darkness was slowly being engulf by some sort of golden aura._

_"Ha-ha, guys, funny" The boy says with sarcasm_

_"What? It _suits _you" The first voice says. The golden aura seemed to be some kind of inside joke._

_"Okay, guys, spit it out. You wouldn't have summoned me or something just to mock me and my predicament" the boy replied._

_"Straight to the point, are we? Tss. Why can't you appreciate us being your allies from time to time. Seriously, no Thank-you-oh-mighty-lord, or I-wouldn't-be-alive-if-it-weren't-for-you" The second voice said. The boy groaned. "Thank you oh mighty lord, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," The boy says exasperated._

_If voices could frown, then the second voice surely did. "Now that just sounded wrong."_

_"Oh c'mon, guys! Stop stalling!"_

_"Oh fine, boy," The first voice says. It continues, "After 'sightseeing'" - -which clearly meant 'eavesdropping'- -"we saw some bits of the future. And if you must know, you're not gonna like any of it"_

_"What? Why? Will my Pack be okay?" the boy says wildly concerned_

_"Your Pack? Erm….that depends on your definition of 'okay.' I really can't judge, but if I were you, it'd be easier and better to avoid, ehem, a certain crescent," The second voice coughed. 'Crescent' was a code word for a certain goddess of the hunt_

_"Avoid them? How can I? I can't! Thanks to that oh-so-powerful king of the gods!" The boy shot back_

_"Not~our~prob~lem" The first voice singsanged to the annoyance of the boy._

_"Oh, and one more advice" The second voice said_

_"As if the first was helpful" The boy grumbled but the two voices ignored him._

_"In the…'near' future, it'll be best to make _her_ chose between- -" the voice was cut_

_"NO!" the boy shouted, the boy would have none of it._

_"Oh don't be stupid, boy. You knew this was going to happen sooner or later" The first voice chided_

_"I'm not gonna let it happen" _

_"That's where you're wrong"_

_"I don't care"_

_"Don't be foolish!"_

_"I'd rather be if it meant not making her chose!"_

_"Idiot! I know that you care for her, so you do not wish for her to choose. But let's face the facts. By the time you ask her to choose, she's gonna care about you all as much as you her, to her misfortune. So she's gonna have to choose"_

_"Forget it!"_

_"Oh don't be in denial"_

_"Get out of my head"_

_"Okay" the two voices said in unison and their voice was slowly fading. In a faint whisper they said, before their voices were gone as if carried away by the wind, "But you're only making it harder for that hunter girl_"

* * *

Artemis sat straight up as if being jolted awake. What time was it? It was early in the morning. She was in her palace. Quickly, she went and checked on her hunters from the shadows (not literally). They were all still asleep.

For a moment, Artemis was consumed by rage. That _boy_ promised him last night that they will not lay a hand on one of his hunters. But then again, what did she really expect from the words of a _boy_.

But then...a hunter has betrayed her? All the anger washed out and was replaced by hurt. The dream had said that the hunter cares for the Ac- - for that _boy_. So does that mean that a hunter will forsake her vow and be 'involve' with a…a boy?!

But then….they said in the _near_ future. So maybe….the said hunter didn't care for the _boy_ yet. That means, Artemis still had the chance to separate her hunters from those…_boys_ before one of them 'corrupts' her precious girls.

But another detail seems to be nagging on her: who owned the voices and who was the 'crescent' person the _boy_ needed to avoid?

* * *

Percy was clearly annoyed when he woke up. You could feel the black aura around him. The Pack members murmured:

"Shit, he's in a bad mood"

"Urgh, he woke up in the wrong side of his head"

"It's 'the wrong side of the bed' idiot!"

"Is it his bloody time of the month already?"

"Not again"

Percy scowled at them but they merely snickered. He was really feeling angry that he stomped towards the door and was almost going to go out when

"You're not wearing your cloak and goggles oh-powerful-Ace!" Someone shouts back.

"Vlackas" Percy muttered. He grabbed his silver cloaked, and put his hood over and slammed the door of Cabin 13 shut.

He had to make Thalia chose? Seriously, no, just no. And you know what's more annoying, he forgot to ask Morpheus and Hypnos for the details about what they saw in their little 'sightseeing!' Percy groaned

He wondered were Nico is. If Nico's here, then at least someone's gonna stop him from killing everyone in camp if he snaps….not to mention that he had to talk to Nico about Hypnos and Morpheus's little visit in his dream land.

Oh, and to make matters even more eventful, he felt a _presence _in the dream! Meaning, someone was eavesdropping on them.

Aku found him in the woods. Percy sighs and climbs on Aku and lies down on top of him. Maybe he should just march to the throne room, spill every secret that was eating him alive, and sit on Zeus's pathetic throne. But no, of course he wouldn't do that.

When Percy was calm enough, he went back to his cabin and the guys were still there. He mumbled a 'sorry' about his rude behaviour and they just said 'whatever'

When everyone was awake, they decided to have a meeting about capture the flag. Almost every time they meet to decide strategies, it always come to the same decision: let's just wing it!

As expected, the meeting was coming into a 'let's just wing it' decision when Percy said, "And guys, you are not allowed to use your powers"

"What?!"

"Yup, just swords, spears, and whatever weapon and magic items"

"Why?!"

"Well, if you want to use your powers and reveal to the world who your parents are, then bros, be my guest!" Percy said. The explanation seemed to be dawning on the Pack. Percy was right. If Percy were to use water powers, then it's like he was announcing to the others that he was a son of Poseidon or something.

"I thought so. No powers, alright? That's an order. If you win, then you win with swordsmanship and magic items alone! I'll be watching, don't disappoint me!" Percy says and instead of saying 'yessir' respectfully they laughed and said, "thanks for the pressure, oh-so-magnificent-ace!"

The breakfast horn was blown and they all grabbed their cloaks, put their hoods over their heads and headed for the pavilion.

The campers were staring at the hooded creepy men passing by. There were whispers but the Pack didn't mind. They sat at Hestia's table, and were now filing in to offer some food for the gods. Now, the Pack would always offer to Mars first, then to Hestia, and then to their godly parent. The reason for this was because Mars demanded more…formality and respect from them. The only reason they offered to the godly parent that had abandoned them was because Hestia insisted that they did. They offer first to Hestia and Hestia would then mask their offers to their godly parent so that the godly parent would not question or investigate about where the unknown burnt offering was from.

Meanwhile, Artemis and Chiron were having conversation.

"Nico informed me that he had an emergency task for Lord Hades and was to leave right away. He won't be there to watch the game today"

"That son of Hades?" Artemis asked and Chiron nodded. It was polite of that Nico _boy_ to inform Chiron first instead of just shadowtravelling on the spot, Artemis thought.

Artemis wasn't really focusing much with her conversation with the centaur. She was debating whether or not to confront the Ace _boy_ about her dreams or to just secretly and discreetly observe him so that she can just capture him red handed.

* * *

Soon enough, all of the campers, hunters, and brothers of the Pack, were busy with preparation.

"Alright guys, as motivation for this fight" Percy announced and the others all huddled up. "If we win, I'll send you guys one by one on solo missions away from the Hunt." Percy said and this got the guys riled up. Hestia informed him before they went to camp half blood that they may separate from the Hunt if ever a select few were given solo missions. They still have to keep Shay's reputation intact, after all.

"But if we lose, all of you will take on my chores for one week!" Percy announced and they all groaned. Right now, Percy didn't know what he wanted: for them to win and prove themselves to the hunt, or for them to lose and get one week free of chores!

"Erm, Percy. We were wandering…maybe B, C, the others, and step out of the game. I mean, it won't really be fair if we play" L said. Percy pondered about this. Considering the identities of L, B, and C, and some of the others, well….it really was pretty unfair.

"If the others drop out of the game, it'll be like we're insulting him. So I'll just do this" Percy said snapping his fingers and praying silently to Mars. Something glowed in some of the boys' armor

"What the hell? This are fucking heavy!" P complained. "A handicap, happy? Now go and wing the game…er I mean win the game…er whatever. You're probably just gonna do both" Percy said and they all nodded in agreement

Out of one of the shadows, Nico (with his hood) on top of Pisto came bolting out. "Hey, guys" Nico said. Nico was wearing his black cloak. Yes, it was black. The normal members of the hunt had white, but officially, Nico's was black because he was lieutenant, and Percy's was silver because he was the Ace.

Nico wasn't going to play. They went their way to Chiron, Thalia, and Artemis with Nico riding Pisto and Percy lying down on Aku. Artemis was itching to turn the cloaked boys into jackelopes. That'll solve everything right? If every boy was a jackelope, then the world will be more peaceful. But she doubts that her Aunt Hestia and half brother Ares would appreciate it if he turned their Pack into jackelopes. Anyway, one thing was for sure: whatever inkling of trust he had for the Ace of the Pack that was earned with their talk last night was gone because of her dream. Surely the dream was real?

She had been debating on whether or not to tell Apollo about this. He was the god of Prophecies after all. But she had a feeling that whatever she saw must be kept a secret or else something…unwanted will happen. That's when Artemis noticed the meaning of the presence of the black cloaked boy.

"Who is he?" Artemis asked/demanded

"He's my lieutenant, Lady Artemis. He will not be playing" Percy says respect evident in his voice but he did not bother to get up from his wolf and look the goddess in the eye. He just lied down on Aku.

"And why is he not playing? Are you really stupid enough to underestimate us, _boy_" Thalia spat. Percy almost snorted at Thalia's acting skills. It was perfect to a fault. You wouldn't believe she knew who they really were…._she knew who they really were. You're such a bastard, Percy. You're making your own cousin, your own sister go against her family_, Percy thought.

"Well, are you not the lieutenant of the Hunt? And aren't you not participating? If the Hunt's lieutenant shall not participate, it is only fitting for the Pack's to abstain participation too. If you were to play, then my lieutenant shall play. If Lady Artemis shall play, then I shall play too" Percy explained calmly. That's when he realized that he chose her words poorly

"If I play, you shall play too? Are you saying that you are on par with me _boy_?" Artemis spat. Her eyes were now a silver swirling pool of rage. Percy cringed and mentally gulped. He gave a laugh.

"Please, Lady Artemis. If you were to join, not even a miracle would give us a slight possibility of winning with you on the opponent's side. I only meant that if you, the Hunters' leader, were to join, it would be a disgrace of the title Ace if I were to cower and not join my Pack as its leader" Percy hastily explained.

Artemis gave Percy a mean glare that made Aku whimper. Satisfied, she just looked over the woods as if Percy never existed

_Smooth, bro, smooth_ Nico said in his mind chuckling. Thalia seemed to be trying not to laugh.

Chiron on the other hand was relieved to know that he had not witnessed another birth of a jackelope. Before anything else happens, he signalled for the game to start.

It was quite interesting.

With Percy and Nico out of the picture, there were 28 brothers left. 10 of them went to attack the campers, 10 went to attack the Hunters, and 8 were left to guard their flag.

For the game, the Hecate cabin had rearrange the woods to form a circle. The creek) split at one point, making a Y shape boundary line that divided the circle-woods into three equal parts. The Pack's territory was sandwiched between the Hunters' and Campers'

The Pack's offense was acting swiftly. Three of them were attacking via land and acted as a distraction while the seven were using the trees hopping from one branch to another, discreetly knocking out the positioned archers. Three of the seven were archers.

Once they reached the flag, they used one of B's inventions: a glove that makes the thing it touch invisible and leaves a hologram of it. One of the Pack members swooped down and grabbed the flag making it invisible and leaving a hologram of it in its place, unknown to the campers guarding it.

They swiftly passed to friendly territory.

"THE CAMPER'S FLAG HAS BEEN TAKEN!" someone announced.

"Impressive," Artemis said which kind of shocked the centaur and the three cousins. "For _boys_" Artemis added.

Now, the team to take the Hunters' flag was having trouble.

It was almost impossible for them to sneak up on the Hunters posted on the three branches so what they did was used the opposite branch of the tree a hunter was positioned in, and discreetly jumping to the next three branch.

This time, their distraction was bigger. Only two of them were sent to capture the flag and the rest of the eight were distractions.

To make the matters worse, the campers, figuring out the hologram thanks to the announcement, became back up for the Hunters

They had captured the flag, but soon, they would figure out it was a hologram, and it was nearly impossible to get back to their territory with the amount of Hunters and Campers.

Meanwhile, back in the Pack's territory, five of the eight that was left were secretly posted in one of the highest branch. They too were archers.

They kept shooting arrows to those who dared enter their territory. And when they shoot, they jump to the next branch so that their positions were not exposed.

Those that did get pass the archers had to face the remaining three members of the pack.

They were circling their flag and skirting the circumference with a 5m radius from the flag. However, whatever intruder approached, they weren't even able to get 10 meter close to the guards because B also put another invention. They created a ditch surrounding the whole flag and covered it of a hologram of land, so whoever went close fell into the ditch.

Noticing this, a hunter managed to shoot a magnetic arrow, stuck it into their flag and retrieved the arrow with the flag attached to it. The Hunter started running back to their territory with the flag and victory at hand.

The guards jumped over the ditch but was behind considerably. They weren't gonna catch the Hunter in time

As the hunter began to near the creak, the image of a member of the Pack formed who was running with the invisible Hunters' flag as well.

It was obvious that the Hunter was going to cross the creek faster so when the Hunter was about to cross the creek and into friendly territory, the member of the pack through the flag like a javelin spear.

The moment the Hunter set foot on friendly, territory, the Hunters' flag touched the ground with a thud. The Hunters' flag began to shimmer as its invisibility (since it was not touching the gloves anymore) began to dissolve.

Silence.

Percy and Nico couldn't help but smirk

Thalia sighed, and that made Percy and Nico guilty. _She can't even be happy for the win of one of her families without rubbing salt on wound to the other_, they thought miserably. Sometimes they thought it was better if Thalia didn't know anything of the Pack at all. If she didn't care. Ignorance was a bliss. But they couldn't do that to Thalia. They couldn't keep her in the dark like that. They sighed. Finally, when Chiron seemed to snap out of his daze, he announced,

"THE GAME IS OVER. THE HUNTERS AND THE PACK HAVE TIED!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO**

* * *

The Pack was waiting for the hunters to finish fixing their stuffs. They were going to meet by Thalia's Pine tree.

The hunters and Lady Artemis came to view. Once they saw the pack, they scowled. They didn't really like the fact that they tied in the game yesterday, and they most certainly did not like the fact that two of their members were able to swiftly pass the hunters while said hunters were distracted by their decoys.

As they got nearer, all of the Pack bowed. After all, Artemis was still a goddess and must be treated with respect. Artemis just glared at them, and raised her eyebrows for there were only 20 something Pack members present.

"Where are the others, Ace? We will not wait for anyone of you. You follow_ our_ pace" Artemis says.

"Of course, we will. We will always try our best not to make any of you wait"—some hunters snort—"But the others are not coming. They have been sent off for missions by Lord Mars and Lady Hestia" Percy informs her. "It's confidential" Percy added in a tone that meant _if you want to know, take it to my patrons…not that they'd tell you_. But respect was still somehow evident on his tone.

"Fine, but let us get something straight here," Artemis says. Percy raises an eyebrow (not that any non-member of the Pack could see because of the hood). Percy thought they had made a rocky truce that night when he had…._slipped_ and had accidentally let his guard down in her presence.

"You will not interact with the Hunt. You will not flirt with the Hunt. And you will certainly not betray any information about the Hunt to _outsiders_" Artemis says, venom evident in her voice.

Percy really was confused. He thought they had made that clear already? But he guess, although he was stupid enough to tell her some info on the Pack, his word was nothing but mere words from a _boy_. He couldn't help but be hurt by that…for a bit. If she knew him as Percy now and not as the Ace, would he treat him with such distrust?

"My Pack shall not interact with the Hunt unless they had contacted us first, or unless it is absolutely necessary. My Pack shall not flirt with your Hunt. If you must know, my Lady, the Pack has made a vow much similar to your Hunters'. And the Pack certainly has no interest on any information that we will witness about your Hunt. All we care is to get this over with, for Zeus to leave us alone, and for us to continue to live in the shadows. Please, don't forget, Lady Artemis. You are not the only one who was forced into this situation" Percy said coolly.

Artemis looked at the Ace sceptically. He had said that with respect in his voice yet again. For all the while, he has not done any fault for Artemis to take as an excuse to turn him into an animal—which Artemis was itching to do. His words made sense and she wanted to trust it—though she did not know why (there was something….familiar about his voice)—but she could not ignore her dream. Who else would be wearing the silver cloak other than the Ace? He must be the _boy_ in the dream

Artemis made her way pass them. Their first joint assignment was to hunt some monsters' dens. Artemis decided to teleport them half-way the trip. When Percy asked where to, the goddess hesitated. She didn't want to tell the _boy_ anything. She wanted them to be in a need-to-know basis. All she wanted him to know was what to kill, and when to make the kill.

Percy was getting a little annoyed by this but he had to remind himself that Artemis hated boys and true, he had earned her respect as 'Percy' but as the Ace, he had to yet again prove himself. This somewhat saddened Percy. He had to hold the sky _for her_ to get her approval, what would he need to do now?

"Lady Artemis, you told us you wanted minimal contact between our two groups. Just tell us the location, and we'll get there as fast as you" Percy said

"How?"

"Lady, you were thinking about giving us info in a need-to-know basis only, and we shall happily oblige. You keep to yourselves, but in all fairness, I think it is only right that you allow us to do the same" Percy said with a steel voice. Artemis was getting a little irritated because she sensed no disrespect from Percy's voice. She was being reasoned with by a _boy_

"Fine" Artemis says telling him the location and disappeared with a silver light. Percy nodded to his troop and they all disappeared, some via the shadows, some via a column of fire, and Percy used the water to Vaportravel himself. Of course, the Hunt had no idea how they got to the location because Percy made sure they reappeared a distance from where the Hunters did so that they would not see the Pack.

All their secrets must remain a secret as much as possible.

* * *

They decided to trudge what seemed like a long expanse of field cover with snow and trees. One by one, wolves (of the Hunters), tigers, and lions (of the Pack) started to join them. It was snowing still. Aku, Pisto, and Nix appeared and Nico and Percy beamed. Thalia just ruffled Nix's head. Nix was the only tiger in the Hunters' part.

"Oh gods, Aku, what took you so long?" Percy asked at the same time Nico says "Finally, Pisto!" and both of them climb at their companions. Nico sat and Percy shamelessly lies down on their pets.

The other Pack members were riding their companions too. Only some remained walking beside their companions.

The Hunters who were beside them, though in a distance, were looking at them like _they let their companions carry them? Worthless boys_

The Pack could feel their stares and were starting to get annoyed. One Pack member didn't even bother holding in his irritation

"If you must know, it is the duty of our youngest to walk for years before they are allowed to ride their companions. And it is their companion's choice when they are deserving to ride them. None of you knows how _hard_ it was to let our companions finally acknowledge us. So do not judge us!" X had told them again with no disrespect, just mild irritation and a slight warning tone.

"Why you—" Phoebe was about to say and X was probably about to say something insulting when Percy cut in

"Stop it, X. Apologize" Percy said sternly.

"But, Ace—"

"Enough. True enough they were making their very rude opinions about us obvious in their faces, but you did not have to tell them anything. In fact, what gave you the idea revealing to them one of the traditions of our Packs, eh, soldier?" Percy asked. He rarely addressed them as soldier, so this shocked the others.

"Yes, Ace" X amended. "Keep your heads cool, Pack. Don't let their hate get to you. Remember, we are the Pack and we absolutely have no duty to prove ourselves to them, got it?" Nico shot in.

Percy and X apologized to the Hunters. The Hunters did not know how to react: surprise because they apologized, anger or something because of the 'no duty to prove themselves' or all of the above.

The Pack didn't wait for their reaction, though. They continued to trudge.

At some time, they decided to sprint. The Pack followed suit. Around dusk, they decided to set up camp and Hunt for dinner.

They set up camp separately with a considerable distance between. The Pack positioned themselves and knelt as if they were forming the perimeter of an igloo. They pretended that all of them were concentrating but truth was, it was only Percy who made the igloo appeared…but they couldn't have the Hunters noticing Percy's water powers, could they?

The Hunters looked at them sceptically…but hey, they always do that. Percy sent six people to scout their surroundings: three around the Pack's and three around the Hunters'

The Pack were grumbling a lot of things from

"I swear, I'm hating B, L, and the others right now. How come they get solo missions and we're stuck with the man-haters?"

To

"Gods, running with the Hunters is so damn tiring. I think their doing this on purpose"

To

"Yeah, and it doesn't help that we have to wear all this weights on our ankles and wrists!"

To

"You think our companions will chop of the Hunters' heads if they ever hunt for the same prey tonight?"

"Stop chatting and get your butts to work!" Percy said.

Aku, Pisto, and Nix joined the other animals and the Hunters to hunt but the Pack merely conjured up food. Hey, there were some perks to having Vesta as their patron.

The Pack would've offered food but…nah, why should they reveal more info about themselves to them?

Percy was just informed via an arrow with a note almost hitting his head (almost hitting meaning 'it ripped part of his hood and was close to rip his ear'). The note attached said that the hunters were using the nearby river and to stay away.

Percy decided to leave camp first and think for himself. He needed to clear his mind.

List of Problems:

1 He was stuck with a bunch of man haters

2 He had to keep his identity secret

3 He had to keep his secrets a secret

4 He was going to be forced to make Thalia chose one way or another

5 The Pack might lead the Hunters to _them_

6 He could and everything with one simple perfume-bottle like thing but it was risky

Not to mention the fact that, you could still expand those 6 problems into many more detailed-related problems.

Before Percy noticed, he was already stressing too much and forgot about his…._restrictions_. Oh gods, this was bad. Pain all over his body started bubbling up, and Percy couldn't control anything. It was like having a mini version of bathing in the Styx again. _Oh gods, why did I do it for that unappreciative goddess of the moon anyway_, Percy thought though he knew, given the chance to repeat the events, he wouldn't have had it any other way. That was the last thing Percy thought before he sort of blacked out


	11. Chapter 11

**I DO NOT OWN PJO**

* * *

_I was in Atlantis drowning myself with training. All I could think of was how long till I could either go for a visit to my best friend Annabeth or how long till I'll be able to sneak Thalia out of Olympus and bring her to the Hunt. It was harsh for Zeus not to allow his daughter to leave Olympus. He told her it was so that she had no distractions for training for the prophecy. But I knew he just wanted to be sure no one tried to either kidnap or assassinate her. Word of the prophecy was leaking a bit…just a bit, but more than enough_

_Triton disarmed me. "What the hell, Perce? You were distracted." He tells me. Triton and I were now warming up to each other because of one duo mission father made us do together._

_"Uhm, a bit"_

_Triton groaned. "I don't want to spar with you anymore" he told me. "No! I'll pay attention, alright? I just…you know. So come one, let's spar" I say but he shakes his head. "No way, I'm bored. Let's skip some classes and have some fun" He says and swims away before I can protest_

_I groan. Once you get over the I-hate-my-step-brother barrier, Triton was like a mini Apollo. "Wait up!" I called and caught up to him. He chuckles. "You feel father anywhere?" He asks randomly. I close my eyes and open my senses to the see. "Nope, he's not in the castle" I tell him although he could've just done the same as I have and figure it out himself._

_"But if you close your eyes, his trident is still here" Triton grinned. Oh no. He's gonna want to do something, wasn't he? Last time he dragged me into something, I was doing squats for an hour with a bit of my pressure-underwater-resistance taken away!_

_"No way, Tri, no" I tell him._

_"Aw, c'mon! Last time a son of Poseidon stayed here for long and my mother favoured…er in your case tolerated, he was Theseus, and for a son of Poseidon, he was a KJ! I think Romans got their military-ness from him"_

_"I thought sons of Poseidon are supposed to be a bit of wild"_

_"Oh he was wild, alright. He wanted everything according to his pace. He didn't like to be restrained you know? His orders are his orders, up in the surface. And he followed rules. But only his own rules!"_

_"Well, his name does mean 'institution'" I tell him, and yes, I do notice he was leading me to the throne room_

_"Bah! I bet when father named him he forgot to put 'mental' to the institution, alright so here we are! The throne room, where the trident is!" Triton tells me and I raised an eyebrow._

_"Want to dare to touch it?"_

_"WHAT!?" I said. _

_"I know, I haven't even tried to yet. I chickened out. But let's see if we can make it acknowledge us. It was said that the trident only reacted to those that it acknowledge" Triton said_

_"No way! I won't touch it"_

_….._

_After half an hour of punches, slaps, and 'you're a chicken' he convinced me to touch it._

_And that started it all._

_The moment I touched it, I was aware of _everything_ that the trident could command. But the feeling just disappeared as fast as it came because I retracted my touch right away._

_True, I knew the sea was powerful but….there was something wrong about all the power I felt._

_And hesitantly, I touched it again. This time, I didn't feel everything, instead I saw….I didn't know at first….but I began to realize that I saw…the beginning._

_My eyes widened. I was in KRONOS STOMACH with four other gods. But something weird was happening inside….And then the vision blurred. I was in a heated discussion with my brother, Hades….wait what?! My brother?! Oh, then it hit me, I was seeing things at my dad's point of you._

_I was drawing lots for our domains, and Hades nodded at me like we shared some sort of secret. I was—_

_"Percy! Father's coming!"_

_We quickly exited._

_That was the first secret I uncovered. The secrets that led to many more_

* * *

Thalia was Hunting around the forest alone. She wouldn't have it any other way. She needed the time to think. She was planning to quit the Hunt soon. If she keep on this façade for long, she'll just end up hurting both her families. And from her families, she chose Percy and Nico. She didn't want to have to lie to her mistress any longer.

Gods, how did things become so complicated? And memories came flooding back to her: memories of Percy telling her about the trident incident, Percy convincing her and Nico that our father kept secrets, Percy deciding to stop our investigation, Nico convincing the of them to continue the search, Dray, Drew, and Dee's arrival, everything went back.

As Thalia was thinking of these things and was about to make a kill, she felt a tiny burst of energy. And not just energy, it was Percy's energy!

She felt Nico was on his way to Percy but she knew she was nearer. She bolted towards Percy. Not again, she thought. Percy really has to control himself. He's gonna kill himself with his breakdowns.

She found Percy cringing on the floor.

"Oh gods," Thalia muttered and carefully dragged him to lie back on a tree. He had his eyes closed and he was trembling so bad

He was starting to glow yellow and blue. Thalia groaned. Nico arrived worried etched on his face. "Oh no" Nico said.

"_Burn the scroll! Let's just forget about this, guys! No good will come if we keep digging up the past!"_ Percy screamed.

"No! Burn the scroll!"

"Zeus wants to kill us!"

"Stop it! Stop it!

"No, no, no_"_

Percy started to scream. Oh shoot, he was having flashbacks again? "Get Nix to bring Aku here, Thalia!" Nico shouted.

_Nix? Get Aku! NOW!_ Thalia screamed in her head

_Pisto, you see Aku? Fetch!_ Nico barked in his head

* * *

_I was with Hypnos and Morpheus. It was the day that we became allies._

_"We should kill you, you know" Morpheus says_

_"But you won't"_

_"Nope!" Hypnos replies_

_"What do you want?" I ask them_

_"In our realms, sleep dreams etc, sometimes we see glimpses of the future…."_

_"And?"_

_"You'll _need _us to keep _him_ away" Morpheus stated and my eyes widened. Oh no, no, no, no. If they knew about _him_ who else knew?_

_"Oh don't worry, your secrets safe with us, and as of now, no one knows except you, Lady Hestia, us, and in the future, Mars will know!" Morpheus adds hastily. So that means Lady Hestia will tell Mars after all. I hope Lord Mars doesn't kill me._

_"Why do you want to help me? What did you see in the future? Are you gonna turn me in to Zeus?" I demanded_

_"Oh no! Of course not, we won't turn you into Zeus. As to why we want to help you and what we saw…well…"_

_"What Mopheus is trying to say is we~~can't~tell~you~~everything!" Hypnos says gleefully_

_"What can you tell me then?"_

_And they showed me._

_"Allies?" Hypnos asks_

_"Allies"_

* * *

"Allies" Percy muttered.

"Where are they?" Nico muttered trying to absorb all the energy that's leaking out of Percy. Thalia was trying to do the same. They couldn't keep absorbing this amount of energy for long.

"They're near, I can feel it" Thalia muttered and sure enough, pawsteps were heard coming near them at high speed.

"Fates!" Percy screamed in agony. His mind was experiencing the flashbacks, but his body was still feeling the burn

* * *

_"Lady Clotho, Lady Lachesis, Lady Athropos" Percy bowed._

_"We should kill you"_

_"Why is everyone who's whisking me away from my consciousness telling me that they should kill me?" Percy asked exasperated._

_"You should have never learned of what you know now. The trident shouldn't have showed you anything" Clotho said._

_"Yes, it shouldn't have 'acknowledged' you" Lachesis added_

_"Wait, if you want to kill me because of my knowledge, then will you kill my brother and sister as well?" I asked in agony at the thought_

_"Brother? Sister?" Athropos asked_

_"Ah, you mean that son of Hades and daughter of Zeus" Lachesis says_

_"We won't kill them. You are the wielder of the power that comes forth from your…discovered knowledge. If it was just them alone then….the damages of fate can be…reparable"_

_"Will you kill me now?"_

_"We should kill you now" they responded so it hit me._

_"But you won't" I say, whoa, dejavu much?_

_"We won't, but we shall not make life easy for you, demig—Nevermind, we do not even know what you are anymore. Now that you have discovered things, face the consequence of seeking knowledge that never was yours to know!"_

_They let me see glimpses. And with those visions there was an unspoken bargain or deal that was offered. I took it. The trident started it all but meeting the fates made it a done deal._

* * *

"Finally Aku! We can't keep absorbing his extra energy much longer" Nico said as the elegant wolf came to view. Nico felt like a fool talking to a wolf, but he knew the wolf understood, and besides, from all the energy he's absorbed. He was kind of groggy.

He placed a hand on Thalia's shoulder. "Enough, Aku is here" He whispers and Thalia tiredly nods. Nico made sure that Thalia was leaning on a tree. Secretly, Nico absorbed some energy from Thalia so that she wouldn't have to deal with all the tiredness. Nico could take all this extra energy well enough…he hoped.

Aku growled at Nico and Thalia as if to say _you dare be stupid enough to leave him alone with his thoughts in the first place. Wait till Blackjack hears about this!_ Thalia and Nico cringed though where they got Blackjack involved in his expression, they did not know.

Aku made his way toward his master and nudged Percy's head with his nose. He placed a paw on his chest and Aku seemed to act like a sponge, draining Percy's excessive energy outburst. When he was done, Aku was a bit wobbly but nudged Percy so that he was leaning at the comfort of his wolf.

"What is the meaning of this?" Artemis asked. Nico stiffened. Oh gods, good thing they didn't unhood Percy or anything.

And then Nico realized something and he wanted to face palm himself. He hadn't removed his hand on Thalia's shoulder yet, still absorbing some of the excess energy. And Artemis was glaring at Nico's hand on Thalia's shoulder


	12. Chapter 12

The pain Percy was feeling was subsiding. He was just getting his wits back from those…flashbacks. What happened? He lost control of himself. Where was he now? He felt a comfortable fur behind his back. It was Aku's. How did the outburst stop? Percy forced himself to remember….Thalia and Nico absorbed the energy leaking out of him. How was he now? Like he bathe in the river Styx, got out, but had no invincibility. What was happening now….someone was bickering?

Percy forced his eyes wide open. For a moment, his brain processed Artemis' beautiful eyes raging like the silver blade you see right before it passes through your heart and kills you. Percy saw Nico 20% groggy, 80% horrified by Artemis and Thalia 10% secretly thankful for Nico absorbing the excess energy she absorbed from Percy, 20% secretly panicking about the situation, and 70% mentally face palming

Percy didn't have time to process this all completely, for as soon as he opened his eyes, the pain went back to him as if a million ants for each square meter of his body bit him at the same time and was stung by a million hives of bees next.

"Urgh!" Percy let out.

Nico's head immediately snapped back to Percy and so did Thalia's. Artemis gaze followed as well.

"_Skata_" Nico said which basically meant 'shit' in Greek and went over to Percy. Thalia quickly followed and Artemis gasped when she saw the front of The Ace's cloak crimsoned with red, and the fur of Aku he was leaning on was turning bloody.

"_Skata, Skata, Skata" _Nico snarled as he checks over Percy. Artemis completely forgot her anger towards the lieutenant

Nico ripped Percy's cloak open, and saw that his shirt was red with blood. Artemis and Thalia was about to help when Nico snarled "Get away"

"I will help, _boy_"

"No! And what? I'll let you treat him, remove some clothing, expose himself, reveal his face?"

"You're leader is dying and you are more worried about his identity?!" Artemis retorted

"This isn't the first time it happened, Lady Artemis" Nico says gently carrying Percy and putting him on Aku carefully. Aku whimpered at his master's current state. "We have secrets, let us keep them" Nico says and with that Aku started running with Pisto and Nico following before Artemis can stop them.

* * *

"What the hell just happened?" Artemis demanded from Thalia a few moments after the two _boys_ left them in silence.

Artemis was so confused and she felt like she knew nothing when she's not supposed to. And why did Thalia let the _boy_'s hand linger on her shoulder too long. Was this it? Were the _boys_ going to get close to Thalia and will Thalia get corrupted by them? Will she lose her lieutenant? Was she the 'hunter girl' in Artemis' dreams?

Thalia started to explain what happened, obviously not everything, though. She told Lady Artemis that she was just hunting like she was ordered too. Nix was running with Pisto and seemed to be followed by Aku. She saw the Ace was screaming some stuff and she was quite shocked. The Lieutenant (Nico) arrived soon. It seemed like the Ace was having some kind of energy outburst and that was burning his skin.

The Lieutenant then started to absorb the excess energy as to help his leader, which made Thalia help too. But the Lieutenant would have none of it, so he put a hand on her shoulder, and absorbed the energy Thalia got out of the Ace. That is why the lieutenant looked groggy and Thalia a bit less.

Upon hearing this, Artemis nodded relieved that her lieutenant wasn't forming any….attachments. She dismissed Thalia and Thalia asked if she could take a different route in the woods. She needed some fresh air after what she just saw, she said. Artemis agreed.

Of course, Thalia discreetly went to the Pack's campsite

* * *

Nico quickly got Percy to the campsite where the Pack rushed to attend to their leader. They couldn't go to the nearby river. For one, the hunters were there and they might just kill Percy all together if they were to go there, and for another, it will surely be obvious who Percy is if they see the water healing him.

They took him inside the igloo. Thank the gods that it was snowing so all they had to do was to rip our Percy's cloak, goggles and mask so that he could breath properly without that cloak hindering his nose. They took of his shirt which revealed a very scarred (but now opened wounds) back and front body that was bleeding. They now wrapped him with the snow that helped close the wounds.

Nico asked the others to leave them alone.

"_Skata"_ Nico kept muttering. How could he have been stupid to leave Percy alone with his thoughts, especially when they haven't talked about the issue at hand properly yet.

He should've known. Percy...you see Percy has a...lock in him. It's supposed to lock most of his natural body so that his aura and presence would be easier to hide from the gods. Usually, when he was emotionally, mentally, or physically unstable. The lock would kind of...unlock.

The side effects of the occasional slipping energy from the lock was Percy going into what they called 'Rachel-state' (they named it after their friend, the oracle for the thought of Rachel seeing the future or getting a prophecy) and would recall some of the, ehem, past Percy was trying to bury in his mind.

But ever since that..._time_ when Percy got the huge scar in his back and front...well, another side effect came. Because Percy was oozing excess energy, the energy would sort of burn through the scar and thus opening it in a way that hurts... immensely so.

"I made myself weak again, didn't I?" Percy croaks and Nico quickly looks at Percy with relief. "Sorry" Percy mutters. Nico could have faced palmed then adn there. Here he was, bleeding, hurting physically from the scar, and emotionally from the gods know what flashbacks Percy went through, and yet he had time to feel sorry for being what Percy thought was 'weak'

To Nico, it was anything but weak. But then again, good ole Percy didn't change much.

"You really should get your Barrier a rein check, Percy" Nico says gently to his brother. That's what they called the lock to his...erm...energy reservoir: the Barrier.

"I'll get on it, I promise" Percy says chuckling, and adds "Just leave it to me and Aku"

"OH GODS PERCY I HATE YOU!"

A cloaked figure entered the igloo. The whole pack was trying to stop her. Key word: trying. They couldn't stop her. She just walked pass their attempts.

"Leave us alone!" She screeched and the Pack quickly existed the igloo.

"HOW DARE YOU PERCY. WE ALMOST GOT CAUGHT. AND HOW DARE YOU HURT YOURSELF AGAIN!" She shouts

"I appreciate the concern, Thals" Percy grinned, "But this isn't exactly sound proof you know, so could you tone your voice down. Especially while your using my name" Percy grinned.

He tries to get up, winces, and manages to sit up straight running his fingers to his mess of jet black hair.

"'Oh, and know you try to keep it cool. Sheesh, you had us worried, Kelp head" Thalia says and slumps down on the snow in relief

"Sorry 'bout doubt. And thanks for finding me, Thals, Nics" Percy says purposely using the "Nics' nickname. But instead of that Nico just yawns out loud. "You guys owe me both. If I hadn't absorbed most of your energy Perce, you would still be bleeding to death now and Thalia's own energy Barrier would have gone haywire with yours and she wouldn't be able to hold back all her powers" Nico chidded with his eyes droopy

"Oh yes, yes, thank you oh-powerful-drousy-magnificent-sleepaholic Lieutenant" Percy laughs. Leave it to Percy to laugh at close calls.

"So….should we….er, talk?" Nico asks eyeing Thalia carefully. The last time the three of them talked…well, he said some things he'd never wanted to tell Thalia. They talked mentally after that, just the two of them, and they kind of…sort of…somehow…worked it out.

Percy was feeling the tension

"All of us are good, right?" Percy asked. "Right," Percy answered himself and continue "For now, let's just be…careful….alright? I'll try not to slip up anymore—"

"Anymore? You slipped before this incident?" Thalia asked cautiously.

Oops, eh forgot to mention his little chat with Artemis that night. He decided to ignore Thalia, for some reason he wanted to be the only one to know about that night.

"—and I'll have the Pack be careful. We'll wait for the perfect moment, and we'll fake our own deaths, and everything will be good again"

"But—" Thalia didn't get to finish that because a horn from the Hunters was being blown.

"_Skata_, that horn means either we've got a visitor, or an intruder. I've got to go guys," Thalia said. Hugged Nico, and kissed Percy on the cheek (because if she hugged Percy she might open his wounds) "Take care" And with that, she left.

"Did she just—?"

"Before she left?"

Nico and Percy weren't dumbfounded. Thalia didn't really show her affection to them as her _other_ family. And if she did, it was usually because she was worried that either she or the two boys or someone from the Pack will die. They groan.

"Yuk!"

"Sisterly Love!"

They both muttered at the same time

* * *

Thalia went her way deep into the woods before she got back to the Hunt to make it seem like she came from walking and not from the Pack. When she got there a lot of the Hunters were gathering around Artemis' tent.

"What's happening?" Thalia asked. Phoebe grinned.

"We've got a new recruit" She says

"What? How? Wait…how did they find the campsite?" Thalia asked a bit excited.

"She's a demigod, got some help from her mother. She shadowtravelled with her hellhound. You're gonna trip and die and go to heaven when you find our who our new sister is…if Artemis' agrees" Phoebe said excitedly.

"Who is it?" Thalia asked

At that exact moment, a faint silver glow came from the tent and the hellhound Mrs O'Leary came out along with the said maiden goddess and a girl with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes.

"Hey, Thals"

It was Annabeth Chase.

Thalia didn't know what to feel. Happiness? Confusion? And then it hit her. Percy and Nico in disguise was staying with the Hunt. And so was Annabeth. Whatever Thalia was feeling, there was one thing she was sure of: things got more complicated.

"_Gamiseme Tora_" Thalia groaned/complained at the thought

"What?" Annabeth said. Oh _skata_, Thalia thought. She really should stop hanging out with Percy. She's starting to get his habits


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks for the Revs!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

* * *

It's been a few weeks since Percy was mind blown about the hunters' newest recruit and since Percy was attack by the licking machine called Mrs O'Leary. The hunters and especially Annabeth were shocked to see Mrs O'Leary taking a liking not only to the Ace but also to the Lieutenant. As far as they knew, Mrs O'Leary only acted like that with Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Grover, Rachel, and Percy.

After that, Percy kind of panicked and hastily avoided Annabeth, even going as far as making Nico wear his silver cloak, just so he could avoid all of them.

The hunters have gradually accepted their presence though they have yet to acknowledge and respect the Pack.

Percy has acted awfully distant but there have been numerous of times were he or Nico slipped either with Thalia, Annabeth, or Artemis. One of the first ones was with Annabeth. A day after she had joined the hunt, they were all busy preparing to annihilate the monster den:

_Percy was with Aku and they were going to go sit by the river. As they arrived, Aku went to lie on the ground. He was as lazy as his master. It was a miracle as to why Aku even let's Percy lie down on top of him. Meanwhile, Percy was about to remove his cloak when a girl emerged from the river in a distance. (She was dressed, mind you)_

_Percy's eyes quickly widened and he was about to scuttle out when Annabeth noticed her. "Hey!" She shouted and Percy stopped in his tracks._

_"I wasn't watching! I didn't know! The Hunters didn't almost kill me with a note that said they were in the river!" Percy exclaimed. Annabeth laughed. Percy missed laughing with Annabeth._

_"Almost kill you with a note?" Annabeth asked making her way towards Percy. Percy was thinking of ways to get out of there. If there was one person who knew Percy like A B C, it was Annabeth. If he wasn't careful, she'd discover who she was then and there._

_"Er, your clothes are wet" Percy said not looking at her wishing she'd tell him to go away because her clothes were wet. Annabeth just shrugged. "If you try anything, the hunters would kill you, so why bother? I asked you a question" Annabeth said. Great, Percy got Annabeth curious, there was no way she was going to let him go. But first, he had to do something about the clothes. What if another member of the Pack came?_

_"I'll give you my cloak" Percy decided and Annabeth's eyes widened. "But I'll see your fac—" before she could continue Percy took off his cloak in one swift motion and put on a hood. Good thing he was wearing a hoodie shirt underneath a cloak._

_He motioned Annabeth to take the cloak. "Seriously? A hoodie under a cloak? Can I say paranoid much?" Annabeth said and Percy couldn't help but laugh. Annabeth froze at Percy's laughter. Why did it seem familiar?_

_Vlackas Percy cursed himself. What was he doing laughing with a hunter? Though Percy had no idea that Annabeth seemed to be feeling familiarity with his laugh. Annabeth took the cloak and wrapped herself around it._

_"So, how in the world do the hunters manage to almost kill you with a note" Annabeth asked and Percy laughed again unwillingly. Only Annabeth could do that. What were best friends for? Percy decided to use the side of Aku as a pillow. Percy gestured Annabeth to join her. "Er, if you don't mind sitting with…er, a boy. Aku won't bite" _

_Annabeth hesitantly sat beside Percy and leaned on Aku's soft silky fur. Percy told Annabeth about how the Hunters would always shoot them arrows that would always miss a millimetre from their ear or side with a note attached that had announcements and such._

_Annabeth couldn't help notice the Ace's scent. After all, she was wrapped around his cloak lying down beside him on his wolf. The scent was….familiar._

_"Why did you join the hunt?" Percy blurted out and Annabeth stiffened. "Oh, I didn't mean to ask a personal question. I mean, I've seen you only two days ago" Percy said, but she was utterly curious as to why his best friend decided to join the Hunt now of all times._

_"Truthfully, I don't know. I've been stuck in Camp for a long time. I'm one of those councillors the gods made immortal after the second giant war. Have you heard of it?" Percy nodded. "Yeah, so I felt like I was wasting my time. I just wanted to have a purpose. I hate being stuck with Drew and his buddies. You've met him when you went to camp, right? So I prayed to my mother who told me a location, and grabbed Mrs O'Leary and poof, here I am"_

_"Mrs O'Leary…" Percy said missing his pet._

_"Yeah…she's my hellhound. The one who started licking you and your lieutenant when we met" Annabeth said carefully. _

_"Your hellhound, huh" Percy said. Annabeth hesitated. "Yeah….she originally belonged to someone else….until he gave her to me before he…uhm…left" Annabeth said. Percy didn't make her elaborate. Too risky. And besides, he knew already. Percy gave Mrs O'Leary to Annabeth as a thank you for everything, an I love you you're my bestfirend, and lastly a no-matter-what-happens-if-i-die-or-live-this-is-go odbye._

_"It was funny really…that Mrs O'Leary liked you…." Annabeth said suspiciously, trying to get a look at Percy under his cloak. Too bad all she saw was a cloth over his mouth and goggles. "….she only liked a few people…."_

_Percy was getting uncomfortable with this and lied that the Pack was sending a secret signal to him and he had to go._

_Annabeth reluctantly agreed. Of course, when Percy told Thalia and Nico about this, Thalia went ballistic._

"How can you be so careless?!" "I know you miss her, Percy but that's not allowed!" and "Nico's not even trying to defend you because he knows what you did was risky!" were thrown at Percy soon afterwards.

_Then there was the Thalia-Nico accident._

_Nico wanted to talk to Thalia and forced Thalia to sneak into camp on a risky night. It really was risky, but Thalia complied._

_True to prediction, Thalia and Nix were caught by Artemis herself sneaking in the nearby woods. What's worse that when Artemis investigated, she also found Nico loitering around._

_When Artemis demanded why Thalia was sneaking around, Thalia answered, "Er," She said. "I don't know how to explain this mistress, but Nix was nudging me" Thalia said. True Nix was nudging her. "I always trust Nix—" True "—and she was leading me to the woods as if she wanted to lead me somewhere—" again true, because it was Nix sniffing out Nico's scent and where he was "—and everyone was asleep and Nix was moving fast" also true "and when I followed, well you found me"_

_And when Artemis asked the boy what he was doing away from his camp, he had said "I was getting some air. Looking around the woods trying to find a branch to climb" which was also true because Nico wanted some air—with Thalia, and was Looking around the woods—waiting for Thalia, and was going to climb a branch—when he and Thalia met up._

_Accepting this, Artemis exited._

And then there was the Percy-Artemis thing that started numerous Percy-Artemis meetings….

_Artemis was very confused. She hadn't had any more dreams about the Ace recently. So she was doubting her doubts. And then she felt a bit guilty that she doubting Thalia. Seriously, she was trying to help a bleeding to death boy._

_Artemis tried to recall all the things that made her doubt besides the fact that she knows nothing about the Ace's identity. When she tries to remember why she doubted the boy, the only thing that came up was the dream and the incident where her newest recruit, Annabeth, showed up with the Ace's silver cloak._

_She chided Annabeth a bit for talking to him with wet clothes but she told her that the Ace immediately covered her with his clothes as soon as she got out of the water._

_And there was the dream….in the world of gods and goddesses, dreams are pretty stupid to ignore. But besides that? She saw no fault with the Ace and his pack._

_Artemis was walking under the moonlight in the woods as she was thinking._

_The Ace was obviously distancing himself. The Pack had never even given an inappropriate glance to her Hunters. In fact, if you count out the times the Pack have been polite and a gentleman, they pretended that the Hunt didn't exist._

_The Hunters were still wary though. But their first hunt together helped. They were fighting off the monster den, but true to the Ace's word, the Pack did nothing to get in the way of the hunters. They barely even fought. The only times they got involve was if some monster was able to sneak behind a hunter._

_They were just there as if watching the hunters. And not to mention when a monster pushed off a bunvh of hunters from the cliff, the Pack saved them, and placed them on top of the cliff without having their touch lingering long as if everything they did was only done because it was 'necessary' And they never asked for a thank you._

_As Artemis was walking near a river, she can't help but think that 'not getting the Pack involve in fights' backfired on her, because then, she knew nothing about the extent or anything specific about the Pack's abilities. Suddenly, she was brought out of her thoughts by the voice that said, "Urgh!"_

_Artemis discretely followed the voice and saw the Ace and his wolf._

_"It's fine, Aku. Just absorb the excess energy. I'll be fine. Don't you dare get Pisto" Artemis hears him say._

_Artemis moved a little closer to get a good look, and she saw the Ace bleeding again but this time only in the front. At this point, Artemis didn't care about him seeing her so she just went over deciding to help the boy. He's helped the Hunters so far, so why not give him the benefit of the doubt….at least for this case, right?_

_To say Percy was surprise was an understatement. He mentally cursed himself when he felt the moon goddess presence. Everything was fine. He just made a little….slip up with his Barrier. It wasn't as out of control as last time. In fact, this happened in several occasions and he could bring himself in control right away. The only problem now is closing the wound once he gets control of his Energy Barrier. That wouldn't be a problem usually, since he could just jump into a river, but with Lady Artemis here? That's out of the question. Percy groaned._

_"Lady Artemis" Percy said._

_"Do not move, I shall help stop the bleeding"_

_Percy thought about it. He could wave off the goddess's offer and go back to his campsite but then Nico would see his bloody shirt and he wouldn't get enough of him saying he was careless. He could jump into a river but then Artemis would surely notice the water healing him….so he can take the goddess's offer right?_

_Seriously, it's just Lady Artemis, right? The goddess who gave Bianca a home, the goddess who gave Thalia a home, the goddess who he rescued when he was fourteen and again a hundred or so years later….although she knew nothing about the second time. But seriously, could he at least trust her to heal him, right?_

_Artemis thought the Ace was going to deny her offer and she would have understand since it was her who wanted to stay clear of the Pack's way, right? But instead, the Ace said, "I'd be very thankful for your help, my lady"_

_Again, the Ace did something Artemis did not expect. For all the while, he's been turning her expectations upside down. He was a paradox._

_Percy cautiously opened his cloak, but kept his hood on, and unbuttoned his shirt open. Here goes, Percy said. He bets Artemis would find his upper body repulsive._

_Artemis was shocked at the sight of the large bleeding scar that occupied half of the boy's upper body in the middle and the scar seemed to be stretched out creeping up to his back…so that's why his back was bleeding too before. But now, it seemed that only the scar on the front body opened._

_Artemis slowly healed Percy and as the wound closes up and the blood seemed to clear out she gasps._

_"I know, it looks horrible, doesn't it?" Percy groaned though he had no idea why he was being open enough to the goddess that he made side comments. Usually, when dealing with strangers, he just kept his thoughts to himself._

_Artemis registered the Ace's words. It wasn't horrible. The scar looked like it was carved purposely into his body…purposely and painfully. And somehow, the scar flowed as if it was in an elegant dance forming some sort of…..crest. The scar was shaped like a crescent moon!_

_Percy was shocked after Artemis gasped she seemed to be tracing his scar. Should a maiden goddess really be doing that to a shirtless guy? Percy decided not to ask her that in fear that he might be turned into a jackelope, but he could help notice that Artemis's touch was soft and at the start and some point there was this shock he felt._

_"Your scar….why is it shaped like the moon?" Artemis said taking her hand back. Her touch's absence seemed to crash into Percy's face and then he process what she said._

_Oh shoot! He forgot _why _he got that huge scar in the first place! Oh gods….how can he explain it too her now?...wait...why the hell did he even consider explaining to her in the first place? This is the second time he allowed said goddess to know personal info!_

_Being the complete Percy he was, he just said, "Er" but he was pretty sure the goddess of the Moon would not settle for 'er' as an answer_


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! Thanks for the Reviews. I really appreciate them!**

_"Er," Percy shifts uncomfortably. "A crescent moon?" he says deciding to play dumb even know he knows exactly why it was a crescent moon._

_Artemis was obviously not buying this. "You are lying, _boy_," Artemis says, and Percy mentally gulps and tries to steel himself. "It's kind of personal….and you don't need to know about it, Lady Artemis"_

_Artemis was nearing her limit at this point in time. One moment this _boy_ makes her give him a little ounce of….trust in his words…the next a dream goes by and shatters his trust! One moment after that first moment, this _boy _says things with respect but then says words that make you doubt the tone of respect! One moment, after that second moment, he stays distant from my hunters and she finds him with her lieutenant!...though that was coincidental. She doesn't blame Thalia. One moment, after that third moment, he keeps his words and do not get in the way of her hunters' hunts and fights and the next he's talking with yet another of her hunters who was wearing wet clothes._

_"I demand an answer, then" Artemis said in a cool voice but she had rage inside._

_"But I can't, Lady. I'm sorry….you just have to trust my word…" he says in an almost exasperated, begging, tired, if-only-you-knew, I'm-so-sorry-i-can't-tell-you tone. And it was sincere….the last time she heard such sincere words was from….Percy Jackson himself._

_But no! Of course she wouldn't trust this boy. That's ridiculous. How could she? She knows nothing about this boy!_

_"Trust your word? How could I when you give me no reason to, _boy!_ Your history is as good as a blank paper to us! Your hoods and masks begs suspicions and doubt! Your actions scream mistrust! Your—"_

_"I got the scar from trying to save someone important," he blurted out cutting the goddess's word-rampage. Loyalty was still his fatal flaw and the goddess's words were getting to his skin. He was anything but loyal to all he cared for and yet everyone—save for some—questioned every bit of his actions. But he doesn't really blame the goddess._

_"What did you say?" the goddess said surprised at the sudden confession. The _boy_ had managed to surprise him _again_._

_"She was about to get….hurt. I knew I couldn't let anything happen to her" Percy started. "She was important to me" What the hell was he saying?! Why the hell was he telling her this?! Let her distrust him for all he cares! But unfortunately for him, his mouth had other plans. "She was important to my sister so to me, it was important that she would not get harmed" Percy said._

_"You have a sister?" Artemis asked curiously. A part of her felt triumphant to finally get information out of this mysterious robot-like-leader _

_Percy nodded. He wanted to say 'I sure do. She's actually your lieutenant, you know? That's why I had to make sure you were unharmed. And my best friend is your new recruit, did I mention that?' But of course, he just nodded._

_Meanwhile Artemis was thinking that if this Ace had a sister, then he couldn't possibly Percy Jackson._

_"I got this scar and it was…..pure torture…." Percy says and he couldn't help but think in his head 'that's because that's exactly what they did: torture me!' "….I…it didn't matter. As long as it wasn't anybody else who were going through what I did, it's worth it"_

_Artemis didn't know what to say. After trying so hard to glean any information…hell, glean at least even one emotion from the Ace, he was suddenly spouting up personal facts out of nowhere! The last thing he said caught Artemis's attention. 'as long as it wasn't anybody else, it's worth it'_

_That sounded like something the only man she had come to respect would say. Thalia and Phoebe would like to hear of this conversation. Knowing that the Ace and the only man they've…acknowledge shared at least one trait would calm them a bit._

_Percy realized what he had shared and he mentally faced palmed himself. Stupid, how could he have opened himself _again_._

_It must be because they shared the weight of the sky together long before that's why he felt like he could….'trust' (if only for a bit) her._

_He then noticed that Artemis's soft hands were still on top of his scar. Her touch was comforting, the way only a goddess's or a god's touch could be, but what was curious was because 1) he actually felt at ease with the touch that he did not notice it was there for long and 2) she touched his scar without disgust and as if she was not repulsed by it._

_"Lady Artemis…..?" Percy asked looking at her hands on his bare chest. Artemis momentarily forgot about her hand too. She willed the silver glow around her hand that stretched to the boy's scar to fade._

_"I…tried to heal the scar away, sorry but I couldn't" Artemis said and took her hands back. Again for the second time, Percy felt a bit of dread at the loss of Artemis's touch. Urgh, he thought to himself. This is what goddess's and god's can do when they interact with demigods for too long._

_"It's okay, Lady Artemis. Lady Hestia has searched for medics for years, and they have not been able to remove my sca—"_

_Just then the silver wolf, Aku, who had fallen asleep but awaken, growled at his master and lunged angrily at the Ace grabbing him at the back of his cloak as if scolding a little pup._

_He then leaped away but stopped himself, turned his wolf head back, tilted it and sorta made a makeshift bow to the goddess and then exited away._

_Artemis was stunned at what happened._

_"What the hell?! Let go of me Aku!" Artemis could hear the Ace screamed_

_"I was just talking, alright?!"_

_She heard the Ace screamed and the wolfy growl_

_"You're over reacting! Let me go!"_

_His voice was getting quitter now_

_"Don't you dare rat me out to Pisto! And don't get that Nix involved!"_

_"GAH! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Where are you taking me! Gah!"_

_His voice faded into the woods and Artemis involuntarily chuckled at the thought that the Ace was being bullied by his own trusty wolf_

_Artemis guessed that the Ace wasn't so bad….right?...No. he could still be a traitor._

* * *

Of course, this scene caused a very heated conversation with Nico and Thalia that involved

Some: "Idiot! Kelp Head"—Thalia

"Even I'm not that stupid, bro"—Nico

"Tell me, if Aku didn't wake up and drag you away, how many more info and hints would you have told my mistress?!"—Thalia

"Wait till B, L, and the others get back from their mission! They're gonna beat the crap out of you!"—Nico

"Hey, I'm _your and their_ leader!"—Percy

"YEAH, but when it comes to the pack, L is kind of more of the leader-y type. He's gonna kick your butt!"—Thalia says

"Of course, you had to defend L, huh Thals?" Nico says waggling his eyebrows which explained why the next day, the Lieutenant of the Pack smelled like smoke and had multiple lightning burns in his arms.

Anyway, so yeah, Percy tried to become more distant after that, but of course, somehow, he ends up alone or being interrogated by Artemis a couple more times which resulted to multiple nagging from Thalia.

But the last straw was what caused the predicament they were in right now. It went on something like this…..

* * *

_Artemis still didn't get the dream pass the Ace. She has been observing him. But so far, no boys showed signs of 'corrupting' her girls…well, there's the fact that Thalia seems to ask her often to leave and walk alone somewhere, but she had never saw her lieutenant interact with anyone from the Pack more than necessary. And Artemis guess that she wants to be left alone because this is the last month Olympus would put up with the other gods and goddesses' insistence that they find Percy Jackson._

_And then, there's her new recruit, Annabeth, who seemed to throwing in casual 'goodmorning' or 'hi' to everyone including the Pack, but that's probably because she joined not because she hated men but because she wanted a purpose._

_As far as Artemis observations, the boy had done nothing out of the line…..yet. So she guess there's only one more thing to do: confront the boy._

_Percy was dozing off on one of the high branches of the woods. He had been avoiding Artemis lately because according to his beloved sister, Thalia, he was beginning to become open to said moon goddess. But honestly, how could he not? Before, Artemis has been kind to him…or at least 'kind' enough not to turn him into a jackelope given the multiple chances she could've….and has respected him. She was the one among few who insisted that Percy was treated wrongly and should be brought back. (he knew of this because Hestia gave him updates about the council) Artemis was one of the few gods that Percy did not loathe. Nico on the other hands explains it as 'Percy's too soft and wants to make friends with everybody even though said friend was loyal to a certain stupid king of the gods'_

_"I need to talk to you, _boy_"_

_Percy lazily and slowly tried to open his eyes. He was momentarily stung in the eyes by the light and found himself staring at the very goddess he has been trying to avoid._

_"Wha….?" Percy mumbled and then his eyes widen when he finally process the beautiful maiden goddess's presence and the intense glare she was giving him. Any other day he would've shrunk back from the glare, but realizing the goddess proximity considering it was just a short branch, of course he had to fall off the branch._

_"AH!"_

_Percy said and managed to grab a branch below before crashing to the ground. He did a 360 degree swing and steadied himself on a branch. Percy wanted to say 'what the hell?' but considering it was Artemis, he decided against it._

_"Lady Artemis," Percy says as Artemis graciously gets down a branch and onto the branch Percy was. "Is there a, er, problem?" Percy asked hesitantly. Artemis raised an eyebrow and continued to glare at him and finally sighed._

_"I had a dream," Artemis started. And to Percy, that was kind of weird. A goddess woke him up to talk about dreams. Maybe this _was _a dream, and in reality, he was still on the branch high after this sleeping._

_And that's when Artemis told him….wait what?! ARTEMIS WAS THE PRESENCE HE FELT DURING THAT DREAM!?_

_"Oh" Percy says but he was now leaning on the tree trunk for support and drumming his fingers because of nervousness._

_"And?" Artemis says._

_And being the Percy that he was he said, "Er?"_

_Artemis took his hesitation as confirmation. So a Pack member _does_ want to corrupt one of her hunters!_

_Percy tried to recall the details from his dream. Stupid Morpheus and Hypnos, he thought. They didn't even warn him that Artemis was eavesdropping on his sleep…and that's their realm!_

_"Oh! Lady Artemis, my pack is sending me our secret signal. There's an emergency!" Percy says trying to use the excuse he gave Annabeth before. Artemis just raised an eyebrow. Percy gulped hard, counted one to three and sighed._

_"I don't want to make anyone chose" he breathed_

_"So there's _someone_ that you can make chose" Artemis demanded "If anyone of you tries to court my Hunters and make her leave the hunt, I'll turn all of you into a jackalope, make your own wolf, tigers, and lions hunt you down, and put you up in the stars so that men will know not to cross—"_

_"Court?" Percy said confused. "Yes court! The dream said you 'cared' for her and—"_

_This time Percy couldn't help but laugh, which made him an inch close to turning into a jackalope._

_And then Percy realized this so he took a deep breath and said, "My brothers will do no such thing, Lady Artemis"_

_"Then what did the dream mean by you making her chose—"_

_Percy made a split-second decision, or what Percy recalled Annabeth referring to hundreds of years ago as split-stupid decision_

_"I'm going to tell you something, Lady Artemis" Percy says and the moment he says it he knows this is the most stupid thing he's done since he let the Pack get discovered by Olympus. "But you have to swear not to tell or use this information against the Pack in any way" Percy says. Artemis bites her lips. "I swear to the river styx to do as you said as long as what you say is true"_

_"I swear on the river styx that the next sentence I'm gonna Some of the Pack members have some…" Percy hesitated…"Sisters in your Hunt" well it was true, Thalia and Annabeth was there._

_Artemis was once again utterly shocked which was once again caused by the Paradox known as the Ace of the Pack. But this time her jaw dropped._

_"How…what do you mean…are you taking away my hunters then….but…" this set Artemis into a typhoon of a headache. If the Ace and their pack had family members in the hunt, then that just gives them more right to make them chose! And that leaves Artemis no choice but to accept if they leave because…she treats everyone in the Hunt like her family so of course she won't force any of them to stay!_

* * *

...So when Thalia heard of this she said

"YOU TOLD HER WHAT!?"

"HOW COULD YOU, BRO!?" Nico exclaimed

"I AM SO GONNA KILL YOU"—Thalia

"And after her, L will want me to bring you back to life, so he can kill you!"—Nico exclaimed

"Shutup guys!"

"Percy! THIS IS SERIOUS! ALL M'LADY NEEDS TO DO NOW IS CHECK OUT ALL OF THE HUNTERS' BROTHERS AND OR PAST BROTHERLY RELATIONSHIP AND BOOM. SHE'S GOT A LEAD!" Thalia screeched which is why when a Pack member came bursting in the igloo, he had his fingers in his ears.

"HEY GUYS! B, L, and the others are back from the mission!"

Percy paled visibly and gulped.

"And no Percy, we are not going to keep this little info secret from L and B" Nico says with finality

"Oh you don't need to tell me the info, Nico. We know perfectly well about your slip ups"

Two men entered the igloo.

They put their hoods down.

"Er, hey guys, how was your mission" Percy says almost in a yelpy whisper

"Oh it was good, Perce. What else can you expect from us?" B said

"You on the other hand, Perce. It's just been a few weeks with the hunters so tell me, how many times have you—"

"Hey! How did you know about it in the first place!" Percy asked L

"We know about it because—" B started

"—Lady Hestia's been watching you. When she kind of slipped and told Mars about it—" L continued

"—well, let's just say Mars is not happy" B finished

Thalia's and Nico's eyes widened. Suddenly, they forgot about their anger about their cousin's foolishness. Instead, they just felt pity.

Percy gulped. "I'm gonna get punished, aren't I?"

B and L just nodded. _Gamiseme Tora,_ Percy thought


	15. Chapter 15

"C'MON GUYS! LET'S PAAAAAAAAARTY!"

Every Huntress, including Artemis heard that. They turned their heads to see that it came from a flying member of the Pack hovering around their campsite.

Huh. This was weird. For some reason, the guy flying didn't have white cloaks like the others, silver cloak like the Ace's, nor a black cloak like the Lieutenant's. The boy that was flying was wearing a red cloak.

"ALRIGHT!" another shout

"TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!" says another one.

Artemis was again bewildered by the sudden actions of the Pack.

Meanwhile, Thalia was experiencing 20% shock 30% dread and 50% urge to kill a certain guy called L because she was afraid she knew exactly what the Pack was doing. After all, it was their tradition. But c'mon! That was _before_ they got caught, they wouldn't be idiotic enough to go on with tradition now that they were discovered by Olympus and being watched by Lady Artemis, right?!

Apparently, Thalia was wrong because she heard a familiar voice that she decided was B's said, "C'mon people! Get moving! It's not every day that those two are gone! Don't let any time go to waste!"

Gods, Thalia couldn't help but face palmed. The hunters were to bemused at the voices they heard to notice. I mean, c'mon. The Pack that was so distant, quiet, and mysterious was suddenly shouting so carefree? Who wouldn't be bemused? But Annabeth seemed to notice, but shrugged it off…for now.

"Thalia, Phoebe, Annabeth, come, let us find out why the…_boys_ are making such a ruckus" Artemis said.

"Can't we just try to kill them with a note attached to the arrow like we usually do?" Phoebe asked and Annabeth couldn't help but let out a laugh, though for a different reason the hunters think she did. She laughed at the memory of the Ace and their…'talk'

Thalia on the other hand was chanting on her mind _yes, please. Just send a note. Please. So that you don't have to see the Pack in that 'mode.' What the hell was L thinking? This is a MAJOR slip up. That's the reason why Percy is being punished in the first place! And now he goes doing the exact same thing…purposely!_

"Not this time, Phoebe. We are going to check out their camp site" Artemis says and Thalia pales though again no one notices….except Annabeth. _Hmmm_, Annabeth thought.

They trudged towards the Pack's campsite. The sight they found was quite….not the one they expected.

Pack members were swarming around as if preparing for a…celebration.

Not to mention that there was something different with the cloaks they were wearing.

Some of them wearing the same white cloaks like usual, but others were wearing some red cloaks, and the others were wearing blue?

Thalia wanted to punch everyone in the Pack. _Great job guys. You might as well explain everything in the pack._

Someone then noticed the hunters. "THERE ARE SOME HUNTERS CROSSING THE BOUNDARY LINE!" they shouted.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and three red cloaked Pack member snapped out of the silence. "Everyone get back to work!" someone says and they hesitantly nodded and the three red cloaked men walked towards the hunters.

They bowed. "Lady Artemis," the first cloaked man said. "To what do we owe the…er," the second stuttered. "the pleasure of your presence here?" the third one filled in for the second.

Thalia was glaring at them and the three secretly gulped.

"What are all the noise you are creating? And what happened to your cloaks? And don't tell me that you do not answer to me and that you only answer to your patrons. Where is your Ace? It seems that there are changes in your Pack and I wish to discuss whether or not it affects my hunters with him" Artemis demanded.

The first cloaked man said, "er…my Ace is kind of…being puni—" the second one elbowed him hard. "Ehem, is kind of sent to a missi—" the third one elbowed the second one, "What they meant was that the Ace of the Pack was summoned by our Patrons" he says glaring at his companions as if to dare them to say otherwise.

"And who are you?" Artemis asks looking at the third cloaked person. She did not believe the three a bit. Thalia was glaring at the third cloaked boy hard. _Great, just spill the beans now._

The first cloaked man said, "I am B"

The second cloaked man said, "I am C. And the one you asked who he is, is L"

And together they said "and L is the real leader of the Pack"

* * *

Percy was somewhere hidden from the gods in a cosy logged cabin, with a fire wall, and all.

"Thanks for dragging me into this, kelp head" Nico whispered to Percy as he was drumming his hands on the sofa. "Oh shut up, death breath. Take it like a man" Percy says and at that exact moment a god and a goddess appeared before them.

They quickly bowed. Hestia was looking at them warmly and Mars was looking at them sternly….well, it's better than him glaring at them in Ares mode. Ares was more spontaneous. And besides, Percy saved him when he was in Roman mode so Percy's patron was mostly in the form of Mars.

"Do you know why you're here?" Hestia asked.

"I think so" Percy yelps

"Nope!" Nico says.

Percy glares at Nico. "Thanks for sticking with me, bro. I feel the love" Percy murmurs. Nico rolls his eyes and Hestia was slightly amused.

"Are we being punished?" Percy hesitantly asks.

"Are you sending us for a mission?" Nico asks too.

"Hmm….yes, I am sending you two for a mission. No, I am not punishing you. Yes, I am kind of worried with the fact that Artemis knows you have sisters in her Hunt. No, you are not getting away with it. The only reason I won't punish you, Perseus is because the mission I'm sending you two…well, it's necessary really…but it'll be…difficult…and personal. And that's punishment enough," Mars says.

Percy gulps. Mars just called him Perseus. This must be serious. This wasn't about his major slip up with Artemis anymore. This was something bigger.

"What is it? What's the problem?" Percy asked.

"How long will we be gone? What about the pack?" Nico asks.

"L is back, remember? He'll lead like he usually does…though, I won't stop him from doing as he pleases like he normally does. In fact, I think their preparing for it right now!" Hestia says

"WHAT!? You're allowing him to party, change the colour coding of the cloaks, and lead like usual _with the hunters there to watch_?!" Nico says and Percy says.

"I thought we were going to keep their knowledge on us to a minimum! If L leads like usual, that's just the opposite!" Percy says.

"Come down, Percy. Trust us. By the end of it all, the Pack will still be safe and intact. With L, B, M, and C, plus the others, you don't have anything much to worry about while you're gone. The plan is in motion and L doing that is part of it…though you may not like the plan…" Hestia says

"And the plan is….?"

"..."

"You're not telling us aren't you?" Nico groans.

"By the end of your puni—erm, mission, you'll understand. Trust us" Mars says coolly.

"Plus L has been leading most of the stuff so what's the difference now that he's back? Do you not trust us?" Hestia asks.

"Of course we trust you!" Nico says

"Yes, I think it's even safe to say we even _blindly _trust you" Percy smiles

That earns a grin from Mars and Hestia's warm smile grew


	16. Chapter 16

"I̱líthie ! Pó̱s boreís na eísai tóso i̱líthios ! Af̱tó eínai sti̱n kati̱fóra ! Tha pároume katálava mas ! Pérsi éfyge giatí eíche dó̱sei éxo̱ se pollés pli̱roforíes , tóso tó̱ra eíste akrivó̱s érchetai kai dínei makriá ópo̱s « boró̱ kai egó̱ ekeí eímai o pragmatikós i̱géti̱s ti̱s syskev̱asías , o̱raío na sas gno̱rísoume! Giatí den boró̱ na chytheí móno káthe mystikó pou échoume kai tha to po̱ ston patéra sou kai na mas skotó̱soun gi 'af̱tó to kómma—!"

"Thalia! STOP IT! You're giving me a headache. Speak in English, will ya?" L said rubbing his temple.

"OH I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND ME. DON'T HEAD ACHE ME, MISTER…." Thalia went on ranting again.

L whispered, "Psst, wanna help me out?" he whisperes to B. "Oh no, bro, this is all your doing. No way am I gonna get castrated with you" B says chuckling. L groans.

"Thalia, look, why don't you go back to the hunters—"

"OH NO I WON'T. YOU EXPLAIN TO ME WHY YOU ARE—"

"Artemis might notice you gone" L said and Thalia just turned red and was fuming smoke in the ears. She turned purple. She made chocking gestures at L. "FINE! SEE IF I CARE! IN FACT, THE NEXT TIME YOU GO TO A MISSION FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND START BEING _OBVIOUS ABOUT OUR SECRETS TO THE HUNTERS_, WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE!"

And with that Thalia stomped away.

C whistled. "Damn boy, we really shouldn't be left alone with her when Percy and Nico are around. At least it's _them_ who Thalia takes her anger out. Not with us"

B was just laughing his butt of and L was groaning.

* * *

Artemis was literally confused.

Who was this 'L' person? And why would he be the real leader of the pack when the title 'Ace' belonged to someone else?

This L person refused to tell her anything after he was introduced as the leader of the Pack.

All he did was give him his letter and trudge off.

Artemis paced, and then decided to open the letter.

_Dear Sister,_

_I hoped you restrained from turning L, B, and the others that have just come back from their missions into jackalopes. That would be too bad, I am quite fond of making them train and watch them almost die in their missions. Plus not to mention the fact that if you did anything to unduly harm the Pack, my Ace would not stand for it. I am serious. He gets scary when you threaten or hurt his family. I had once fought him at a young age because of it!_

Artemis eyes widened. That _boy_ had fought his brother?! And he's alive still!

_Anyway, you probably know this, but father is...father does not trust me anymore. He never did much before, now even less. I understand him...keeping a Pack unknown...but please, you have to trust me. I know I have done nothing ever brotherly to you, but at least this once, you have to understand that we are working with bigger things here. Especially considering the real identity of my Champion, the Ace, and also the identities of some of the people in the Pack are quite...controversial._

_In our family, I have done nothing that can say that I really was your brother. But I want to start acting like one now-don't ask me why because I cannot tell you the reasons...yet. I want you to think, sister. My Ace has once made me question my positon...my...way of life. Why do we follow the council? Why do we follow our King? He had ask me, do we follow our father because we are doing good-doing things better for the world, or do we follow him precisely just because he is our father?_

_NO! I am not trying to overthrow him! I promise! Nor am I trying to start a war! I know it's ironic, but I'm actually trying to avoid one-thus the secrecy. The secrets we keep can cause all of the things we keep, if ever they get out, may-no, will bring us all the things we have locked away for centuries now._

_Now, here is why I have written this letter to you. Tonight, L has come back from the mission. The Pack has a tradition they uphold whenever L leaves and comes back safely to the Pack...well, they also have another tradition they do whenever other member leaves but comes back alive to the Pack, but that's beside the point._

_He will...invite you and your hunters for the night and will be...'opening up.' Here is the important part. The only way he will continue to tell you...things that I want you to know is if you swear on the River Styx. I shall not tell you what you will be asked to swear to-you will find that out soon. That is your hard choice: swear or not swear_

_If you swear...then I am eternally grateful to you. And I know it will be hard, but if you swear and push comes to shove, you cannot remain on father's side without telling yourself you are a traitor. I will not ask you to swear. I cannot make you. I do not wish to make you. It is your choice._

_Remember what I said. I am not plotting against our father. I care about family!...though I shall deny this if you ever tell that someone. BUT, bigger things are at risk here, Artemis. I'm serious. This is more than just a squabble to assure more power is with us. Much more than that._

_Please trust me that I am planning something wanting to avoid catastrophe. If not, trust Aunt Hestia. She has loved us and is the only person that treated us like nieces and nephew...like family. She has been here far more longer than we have thus knowing more-wiser more so. If you trust her, then I hope you have it in you to trust me too. It's been 700 years since she made me her partner in crime._

_Your Brother,_

_Mars_

_(Because I couldn't have written this sensely if I was Ares)_

_P.S. After your read this, it shall explode...kinda like Greek Fire. I suggest you throw it._

Artemis eyes widened and she quickly crumpled the piece of paper and threw it to the sky.

_BOOM_

It exploded

"Mistress! What was that!" one of her hunters exclaimed in alarm

"Lady Artemis! Lady Artemis!" another hunter exclaimed running to her. Artemis raised an eyebrow

"What is it Cassandra?" she asks

"It's the Pack. Phoebe is furious!"

"What? Why!" Artemis demanded.

"But the Pack swore they are not flirting. They said _you_ would understand" she said out of breath.

"What did they do?"

"They invited us to discuss some things. They proposed to have dinner with the entire Hunt"

A thought flashed in the mind of Artemis: _He will...invite you and your hunters for the night and will be...'opening up.'_

"What are we to do, Lady? Shall we hunt them?" she asks.

"Tell them..."

_I will not ask you to swear. I cannot make you. I do not wish to make you. It is your choice._

"Yes, Lady?"

_It is your choice._

_"_Tell them we accept their invitation"


	17. Chapter 17

"You think they'd accept?" C asks fidgety.

L thought of the question before answering. He honestly didn't know, but the fact Lady Hestia forced Lord Mars to write a letter…hmm. "I think so," L finally answers. He zooms around the camp one more time before saying, "Maia!" and then lands on the ground.

"B, you are soooo unfair, how come only L has the flying shoes. Why can't you like, make all of us a pair!" M says as they walk towards where L landed.

"One, Percy and Nico hates flying. Two, if thirty boys suddenly had a copy of Hermes' flying shoes, wouldn't you think that's suspicious, and three, you have a flying skate board, M, that glows like the sun and is on fire like your father's chariot" B reasoned. M groaned. L was chuckling.

"Plus, Perce is quite traumatized by flying shoes. Something about it almost getting him killed when he was twelve," L says chuckling.

"You really think talking to the hunters is a good idea?" B asked. L just shrugged. "Who cares, its Lord Mars's orders"

* * *

Artemis was looking at her hunters one by one in the eye. Most of them had pleading looks that said, _dinner with boys, mistress? Why? Why have you forsaken us_? Her newest recruit, Annabeth, had her eyes shining with curiosity. Phoebe was growling. And Thalia…Artemis didn't know what to make of Thalia. She looked like she was still arguing on what to feel about spending a night with boys.

"Alright girls, time to get this over with" Artemis said and they went over to the Pack's campsite.

* * *

Not a single hair of a boy was found roaming around their campsite. All they saw was the huge igloo. They must've been there.

Two hooded boys guard the entrance. As soon as they saw Artemis, the knelt until Artemis allowed them to rise.

"Your _leader_ does know that we are leaving our campsites virtually defenseless?" Artemis asked the two. Meanwhile the two boys just looked at each other and shrugs. "It'll take tens of fire breathing drakons to melt the igloo. It's safe" one of them said and they entered the igloo.

"THE HUNTERS ARE HERE IDIOTS, STOP PLAYING AROUND!" Someone announced and all of the Pack members scrambled to greet them.

To say that the Hunt was dumfounded was understating an understatement. They did not expect what they found inside the igloo.

On the outside, it looked like…well, an igloo made of ice and snow. On the inside, it looked like a logged cabin.

There were long sofas upfront and further were five wooden tables. Each of the tables could probably hold about fifteen people

And then there was the fireplace.

Instead of it being attached to the wall, there was a pillar in the middle of the living room. The pillar was that of faint yellow and red energy and inside the pillar was a camp fire and little flames dancing and floating around the pillar.

"The Architecture's amazing!" Annabeth says. B, C, L, and M couldn't help but smile at what she said. The other hunters were wide eyed because when you go inside an igloo, surely what you'd expect is a snow and not a place that oozed the essence of….home.

"Thalia isn't this amazing?" Annabeth whispered. For a heartbeat, Thalia was about to say, 'meh' but then, she made herself act all awed and oohs for the place. She almost forgot that supposedly, this is the 'first' time he went inside the igloo, but truthfully she'd been coming in and out of this place.

"Hestia's kind of generous when it comes with us," L said shifting out of the crowd. "Good evening, Lady Artemis" L bowed and was followed by every pack member.

Artemis nodded. "Why have you invited us here, _boy_" Artemis asked. L paled for a moment and shook it off. "How 'bout we have dinner first." L asked but he really didn't wait for the answer, gestured towards the wooden table and walked towards it wanting to delay the inevitable. Artemis nodded.

The Hunters did _not_ like the set up.

In the third table at the opposite ends of the table sat L and Artemis. To their right sat 15 Pack members and to the left sat 15 Hunters to the right. That is the format they followed. Not all hunters in this table and all Pack in that.

There was one thing the hunters were confused about, no food was laid in front of them. "Lady Artemis, you and the hunters are our guests tonight, what would you like to have for a feast?" L asked

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Anything?" she asks as if a challenge. "Well, yeah, mostly," L said and Artemis said a list of names of food that came from other countries and had complicated names, trying to confuse the so called leader of the Pack, no doubt.

"You heard her guys!" L said to the other tables and they grinned and as one, clapped their hands and the food appeared, along with plates, linen cloth, everything.

_Show off_, Thalia said rolling her eyes. "Another perk of having Lady Hestia as a patron: we can pretty much conjure up food as we want" L said when Artemis raised her eyebrow. "So that's why you guys don't even bother hunting" Annabeth says.

The Pack members blushed ashamed. "We would've given you guys food from the start," L started explaining. "But apparently P—" L almost slipped and said Percy but cover this up with a believable cough. "Excuse me, sorry about that. But apparently our Ace thought you would not er, appreciate it if we treat your hunters to, er dinner" L said rather awkwardly.

"Or treat you guys to breakfast, or lunch, as a matter of fact. I'm B by the way" B said.

"Plus, we kind of noticed, that all of you looked pretty happy when you're hunting. Call me M" M said.

Artemis nodded her approval but what she was really thinking was, _They're awfully talkative_. Thalia on the other hand was thinking, _stupid boys! What are they doing being so casual? Ugh._

"I have a question" Annabeth said. "Er, we kind of want to answer questions after we eat, if that's alright" L said. Annabeth noticed something familiar at the leader's voice and accent.

"No, it's kind of a simple question. How are you guys going to eat with cloths over your mouths?" Annabeth asked. It really was legit. Does that mean that they were going to show their faces to them? Although, they still would be covered with the goggles and hood. But still, they've been very careful not to show anything to the hunters so the hunters are really bemused why they would start being careless now.

You could see a line on the cloth slant—L smiled in a friendly nature. "Watch this," he said and put the spoon in his mouth. It passed through his cloth. The hunters' eyes widened.

"The cloak is a gift from Mars, so it has some special properties. Lady Hestia's not the only one who wants to spoil" L said and some of the Pack members snicker at the thought. The hunters—well, except Thalia—groaned. _When will these guys ever let their guard down?_

"Shall we eat?" L asked, and they ate.

After they have finished eating, silence slowly enveloped them. There was tension for what was about to happen. The Pack was tense because of what their offer would do….and with Artemis's decision deciding their future. The Hunters were tensed at what they would discover of the mysterious pack.

Someone coughed awkwardly. "Okaaaay, I think I've stalled long enough. Brothers?" L said and they clapped as one and all food disappeared.

"Okay, so what is your real objective for asking us to come here, L?" Artemis asked her voice rung loud in the house for every hunter or brother to here.

"We have been ordered by our patrons…"

Thalia held her breath. She didn't like being in the dark, but she didn't blame them. They would've told her if they had the chance

"To?" Artemis asked.

The Hunters were now leaning forward.

"To treat you like family"

And that, mi amigos, caught _every single_ of the hunter off guard, including Thalia (who had her jaw dropped) and Artemis who looked like she was a twelve year old girl who's eyes are about to pop (…well technically, she _is_ in a form of a 12 year old girl)

"Excuse me?" Artemis asked.

The hunters started to scowl. Thalia was scowling for a different reason. She was thinking, _what the hell are you thinking dragging me sisters to our dark secrets?! I do not want them involved in this!_ Her eyes were glowing a dangerous glint of blue and black. Annabeth noticed this and did a retake to look at Thalia's eyes. _What?!_ She thought. Did she just see her best friend's eyes turn black and to a different hint of blue? But thankfully for Thalia, the change of color was gone before Annabeth could look at it more clearly.

"My patrons, before we finished our missions, asked us, 'would you die for your brothers?'" L started

"We said yes of course, then they said 'then if you had sisters, shall you die for them too?'" M continued

"'Without a second thought' I answered. I was the first to do so and my brothers quickly nodded in agreement" B said

"And then Mars said, _then go back to your family—the pack and the hunters. From now, they shall be your sisters. Tell them the beginning and you shall always care for them. They shall shun you, but you shall not care. If they swear what we ask them too, you shall not care about anything other than their well being like you care nothing but the safety of your brothers._" C said.

Silence.

"We…we want to tell you the story of the Pack…from the beginning. How it started" L concluded.

Thalia's jaw dropped. Shit, is this really what Lady Hestia and Lord Mars ordered?

"What's the catch? And why would we care?" Phoebe growled

"We want you to swear…er, swear secrecy of whatever info you are going to learn from us…and as for the importance of this to you….Lord Mars explained it in the letter, or at least that's what he said" L say looking at Artemis

Artemis's mind went to the letter_…. You have to understand that we are working with bigger things here...This is more than just a squabble to assure more power is with us. Much more than that..._

"Okay, we shall swear" Lady Artemis says and the Hunters gasps

"But m'Lady!"

"No! No! Wait, please, don't decide rashly, Lady Artemis" and to everyone's surprise, it was L who said.

"You do not want us to swear?" Artemis asked the leader who was the one offering the deal in the first place

L took a deep breath.

"Listen, _please_, we do not want to….look…This is the oath Lady Hestia wanted you to make 'I swear on the River Styx to never tell or inform anything that I shall learn from and about the Pack to anyone or anything in any form or in anyway. I shall not use this knowledge against or betray the Pack in, again, any form or anyway'"

"It sounds fair enough," Annabeth says curiously

"No! You do not understand. We…we shall tell you some secrets that can create another war"—gasps here—"but you should understand that look, we know you hate _boys_, but even if you hate us, if you swear, we will always, _always_ protect you. Think of us as a non-annoying or at least not-as-annoying Apollo protective brother. _But_ with that said, we don't want you to swear. We can't let any of you get dragged into our secrecy. We can't be selfish enough to do that to you"—some snorts here—"Heck! If it were up to me, I wouldn't want to be having this conversation at all! Please, you do understand that if you swear that, you _cannot use_ any knowledge, do you get it?" L said

Annabeth's eyes widen

"So you mean…?" Annabeth trailed off

"Yes, if you swear, let's say that for some reason Zeus wanted us dead—may we be deserving or not—and wants the entire council to hunt us down. None of you can _ever_ suggest anything that is based off knowledge about us. For example, you know what our weakness is, then you _cannot_ make a suggestion to tell them or use that knowledge for the King. You may only suggest something that you said not because of the knowledge you know. Meaning, it's like you're being a traitor…and…honestly..we do not want to do that to anyone" L said. But as he said the last part, he was discreetly looking at Thalia. Thalia wanted to tell L, _It's okay. The Pack is worth it. I chose the Pack_ but she remained silent because she cannot deny the guilt of feeling like a traitor to Artemis

The Hunters started shouting and insulting the Pack. Artemis was deep in thought…._But if you swear and push comes to shove, you cannot remain on father's side without telling yourself you are a traitor..._

Artemis shouted, "Silence!"

The hunters gulped… "M'lady?" they asked

_…BUT, bigger things are at risk here, Artemis. I'm serious..._

"M'lady, it is still your choice. _Please_, I swear on the River Styx we are sincere" L said in an almost pleading way. The Pack never saw L like this. He always had such pride to even sound 'almost pleading' Thunder boomed in the background

_…That is your hard choice: swear, not swear..._

"_I swear on the River Styx to never tell or inform anything that I shall learn from and about the Pack to anyone or anything in any form or in anyway. I shall not use this knowledge against or betray the Pack in, again, any form or anyway_" Artemis said in one breath

The Hunters gasped at what their mistress just said and thunder clapped loud in the background.

"I swear on the River Styx to never tell or inform anything that I shall learn from and about the Pack to anyone or anything in any form or in anyway. I shall not use this knowledge against or betray the Pack in, again, any form or anyway" Thalia followed—more gasps and the Hunters eyes widened

Quickly, one by one, they swore…though a bit hesitantly.

L nodded. The plan was now set. It was done.

"And now, we shall tell you what we know of the beginning of the Pack"


	18. Chapter 18

Every hunter sat down in the living room around the pillar of a fire place. The Pack had carried the sofas and furniture away to make more space. The Hunters were completely captivated by the beauty of the pillar that held dancing camp fire—it was beautiful.

The Pack were scattered and were still in a distant—more so because of the sake of their new sisters' comfort. The moment they swore, the Pack had felt a sense of protectiveness of them…well, they've been feeling that from the start. It _has_ been almost a month that they were together and watching the hunters fight and the way they live, the Pack seemed to think they've gotten attached to them in a sisterly way. It was only now did they actually felt relieve and safe enough to not supress this protectiveness among them.

"Okay shall we start explaining?" L asked and the hunters nodded. L said, "I won't be telling the story"

"What? Then who?"

"I will" said one of the cloaked men. He was wearing a white cloak.

"My name is A. And I am the second Shay" he says and walks out of the corner he has been leaning on. The Hunters were a little tense when A said, "The story began when—" but then someone shouted, "Do we get popcorn?"

"Yeah dude, where's the popcorn?"

"We always have popcorn when we have camp fire stories!"

"Oh for the gods' sake, can't you just make one appear quietly!" A said

"Oops!" They said.

"Do you girls want some popcorn?" The boys asked the hunters. The hunters where now shell shock. One, this was a serious matter and they were fighting over _popcorn_? Two, what happened to the Pack they spent one month with that was cool headed and serious all the time? When had they become so casual? Three, did they always act like this?

A started speaking again, "Okay as I was saying, I…I was the first one to be accepted by the Ace into the Pack—"

"But we're older though!" said some of the people who were wearing red cloaks, namely N and B. C and M just shook their heads chuckling.

"Whatever! I'm trying to tell a story here!" and that's when the red cloaked men threw popcorn at A. The hunters were too shocked at the sudden personality change of the Pack

"Wait, can you explain to us the sudden change of the colors of your cloaks?" Of course, it was Annabeth who asked.

"Uhm, Ace was kind of paranoid…or at least his friends were," L said looking at Thalia who discretely rolled her eyes. "We didn't want you to know about our secrets, so we just unified our colors to white. There are five colours of cloaks in the Pack: silver, black, white, red, and blue." A said. A continued, "The silver cloak is, as you know, only worn by the champion of Lady Hestia and Lord Mars—the Ace. The Black one is only worn by our Lieutenant. The white one's for regular Pack members that's why almost all of us are wearing white. The Blue cloaks are worn by newbies—"

"But the newbies can kick your butt, A!" one of them spoke.

"Shut up before I kick your butt! Anyway, when they spend a century with us, the cloaks turn from blue to white" A finished.

"And the reds?"

"And the reds are…well…they're worn by the—" A said unsurely.

"by the illegal people" L said gesturing himself and the other people with red cloaks.

"You're criminals?" Phoebe asked.

"No! Illegal children, you know. They aren't supposed to be here," A said, he bit his lip. There was a double meaning to what he said. The hunters would assume one of the meanings while the Pack plus Thalia new the truth.

"Oh" Phoebe says thinking _Illegal children, meaning their parents should have never had an affair_

The hunters nodded.

"Anyhoo! Let's start the story telling alright? Everyone got their popcorn?"—nods here, and the Hunters had got to admit, this was the weirdest thing they've done in a while: a secret organization spilling their secrets that can cause the world into catastrophe and their making sure all of them had popcorn?—"V, turn off the lights, will ya?" A shouted and the lights turned off. The pillar of camp fire was even more beautiful in the dark.

"Okay, we're going to take off our hoods"—gasps here—"but not our goggles or cloths. We…we still can't bring ourselves to…just…anyway, the Red cloaked people over there won't be taking off theirs, since they're kind of…illegal…and they're parents might you know…and they'll be…you know" The hunters nodded at this explanation.

They took off their hoods and at least the hunters new of their hair colour, that's a start right?

"Alright," says A. He had white blond hair.

"This is how it started:

_It started with the Ace, obviously_."

And that's when the hunters gasped, because as soon as A said those words, the flames of the fire started taking shape of a boy. As A talked, the fire portrayed what he said as if they were in a theatre, watching the play

"_The story of his hatred for…ehem…some of the Olympians are the same as most of us. They used him like a tool and threw him out like a worn out toy. You know what sucks? The Ace discovered a…secret about the Big Three. Something, that if it ever got out…let's just say we'll be having a different King right now sitting at the throne of Olympus"_ A said

Some gasps. And the fire made a figure of three kids reading a scroll gasping and the Olympians arguing.

Thalia was glaring at A. _Shut up! Shut up! Nico and Percy never told you about the secret! Shut up! Percy gave up _his identity _to keep that secret! SHUT UP._

"Thals, you okay?" Annabeth says putting a hand on Thalia and she instantly relaxed, but Annabeth was flinching. "What?" Thalia asked confused. "You were sparking lightning, actually you still are right now" Annabeth answers still flinching. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Annabeth" Thalia says retracting the lightning. "I'll do it anytime. Don't worry, Zeus is still King right? It's just their story." Annabeth says. It was Thalia's turn to flinch. _She thought I was bothered that dad might be overthrown_, Thalia thought. Her best friend shocked herself a high voltage just so that she could calm down, and yet she wouldn't even tell her the truth.

"_Actually, the Ace wasn't the only one who knew the secret. There were three of them. One of them was the Lieutenant. Now, this is what sucks. After learning the secret, you know what they did? They hid the evidence to make sure our King"—_ A spat the last word—"_wasn't overthrown. And after that, the King found new toys and dumped and forgot the three of them. And even then, they still remained loyal to the King. The three of them split their ways swearing that they'd take the secret to their graves" _A says

Yeah and you're here spilling that secret, Thalia muttered in her head

"_That's when Ace figured to escape. What else was his purpose? The gods had made it obvious they did not need the Ace anymore. He could go back to his mortal parents, but they were expecting a child. If the Ace stayed with his mortal family, he would've put his sibling in danger of a monster attack, so no. He could not come back. That was when he ran away from both the world of the gods and the world of the mortals. He went into hiding. That's when Lady Hestia found him in a forest"_

The fire changed shape into a forest were a woman was walking through some woods as if trying to find someone, and then she had found someone—a boy, the Ace. The fire shaped the Ace character.

"If you girls need more popcorn, just tell us. Speaking of, want some juice?" L said. Cue in hunters throwing popcorn at him "Okay! Okay! All you had to say was no, sheesh, sis" Cue in more popcorn

"_Now that I think about it, he had always held the favour of the goddess of hearth so when she asked the boy, 'what if I give you a new purpose?' and Ace answered, 'if it's you who's giving it, I'll follow you to my last breath' or something like that. That was the start._

_Now, he had the protection of Hestia so the gods finding him was harder to do, unless he wanted to be found. There were only two people who he had allowed himself to tell of his…situation: the two others who knew of the secret that could've overthrown Zeus._

_For a time, only they knew. So Hestia continued giving him missions: saving some unclaimed demigods, saving some demigods in quests, sending demigods to camp, and if there were girls, he'd send those girls exactly when the Hunters were going to camp so that if they ever join the Hunt, they'd do it right away. Sometimes, the two who knew of his existence would come along. And then there was missions that were dangerous that involved saving gods' butts. But the rarest missions he got were hunting monsters because Lady Hestia feared that if the Hunters ever crossed his path, he would be captured._

_The only exceptions of that mission were either if the monster was potentially quite dangerous to Olympus, that was the only of the two times that he was allowed to go hunting monsters. The other exception was if the hunters would have a hard time fighting the said monsters without someone getting fatally injured. If it was a strong monster, he would come before the hunters could arrive and weaken the monster. If he killed it outright, you hunters might find it suspicious, ne? And if it was a den of numerous of monsters, he would again come earlier and kill a..ehem..considerable number of monsters. _Haven't you guys notice some missions that you thought was going to be hard turn out to be too easy?" A asked

The hunters gasp in realization.

"You mean that time with the three drakons…?"

"And that time when we found medusa reformed only that for some reason she was—"

"Or the time when we were supposed to find an army of monsters only that we found just a few—"

"Or the time when—"

"Yeah, that was probably some of the Ace's solo missions. If it was, erm, 600 years ago, then yeah sure, that's Ace. But if it was less than 600 years, er, that's probably some of us because we were formed around that time" L said. Thalia wanted to laugh. She'd known it was them helping the hunters all along.

"_Anyway, so yeah, that's usually the types of mission Ace gets—the type of missions we usually get. And then finally, there was this time when Mars was in some kind of trouble._ This was kind of a myth told at camp. Have you heard of it? When Ares/Mars was suddenly MIA for about a year?" A asked

The Hunters nodded. They have heard of it. It was an uproar of celebration in Olympus that Mars was actually away out and no one knew why, only that he sent letters to his mother—Hera—telling that he was okay.

"_Yeah, actually, believe it or not, Mars was going to fade"_

Gasps here and protests

"I'm telling the truth! Just here the story out! _A minor god of war was trying to make him fade so that that minor god could take his place. Now, meanwhile, it was coincidental that at that moment, our beloved Ace was in an important mission. It involved the secret he was keeping. It was threatening to go out. Anyway, long story short. It ended up to a choice: leave Mars to fade and secure the secret, or help Mars and possibly put the whole world into catastrophe with a new ruler and a new age._

_I know. It was an easy choice right? And it also helped to make things easier that the Ace was hated by Mars since the Ace first went to camp. Heck, the Ares cabin hated him! But you know what you did? Yup, he chose the latter and help Mars and almost put the whole world into catastrophe with a new ruler and a new age just so he could stop the war god from fading._

_He had manage to help Mars and finish his mission, but the cost of it was, well, heavy. At the end of it, the Ace was going to die._

_So Mars offered this: be my champion and I shall have an excuse to save you, or die"_

The Hunters snorted and the Pack members laughed (though they heard this story already, it still was funny). Typical bargain from Mars

"_Obviously, he did not die, so from then he became Hestia _and_ Mars's champion. Hestia then risked telling Mars the Ace's secret. Mars almost told Zeus about it! That was stupid!"_

Thunder boomed and A was somehow bleeding. "Hey! That really was stupid, sir. Don't kill me!" A said. The Pack members laughed and then with a glow, A was healed again. Artemis did not get this. Since when was his brother Mars the easy come easy go joking type?

"_Anyway, so Mars became the patron of our beloved Ace. The number of missions doubled, but that was okay. After all, there were the two demigods who knew about the secret to keep him company sometimes. Lots of his missions that were from Mars were mainly doing er…sadistic things."_

"You've got that right!"

"Yeah it's awesome!"

"No it's scary!"

"Cuz you're a baby blue cloak!"

"Baby blue cloak?" Annabeth asked

"It's an insult, you know newbie, baby, weak"

The hunters face palmed. Ah, they're annoying their sisters like a true family already! Lovely.

"Shut it guys! I'm giving the drama here! _Aaanyway, on the other hand, most of the missions Hestia gave involved saving families of demigods and bringing demigods to camp._

_Now, this is where the Ace was a little troubled. Every time he saved one demigod, at some point, one of the demigods wanted to stay with him, to fight with him. But the Ace would have none of it. This is why I am the second Shay. The first Shay is the Ace. I remember how we made the Pack happen._

_We were near long island now. I was with…two of my companions. One of them was a girl and the other was a boy. The boy, my friend, kept asking Ace loads of questions._

_"Is there really a lava wall you get to climb?" He kept on asking_

_"last time I checked"_

_"Do we get to fight with real swords?"_

_"That's the point of training, kiddo"_

_"How old are you" This time the Ace laughed. "Very old"_

_And then he kept on asking and asking and the girl and I just listened. That night, we set up a small camp. The Ace was telling us that from tomorrow, he couldn't come with us anymore. He told us not to worry and that we were near and that if we get in trouble, he'd save us. But he couldn't come with us._

_To say that we were sad about it was an understatement. He told us to sleep and that he'd take the first watch. I couldn't sleep then, but my companions…they were snoring so I got up. It was my turn to ask questions._

_"Are you really leaving us?" I asked him, almost pleading. I was young then. I was scared. I mean seriously, I just found out that one of my parents are frickin gods that are so old that the thought of hitting on my mom was pedophilistic"_—some laughs here (to the Pack's surprise, even the hunters chuckled)—"_He nodded as an answer. "Why?" I asked_

_"I don't belong there, kiddo" he says_

_"Then how can you be sure that I'll belong there?" He stared at me as if he hadn't been asked that question before._

_"Kiddo, you aren't the first demigod I took to Camp. And last time I checked, the ones that I did take are still there and safe"_

_"Take me with you," I tell him. He raises an eyebrow._

_"What about your friends? What about _her?"_ he asks and I have to admit that that question caught me so off guard that I blushed"_

"Lover boy!" J whistled. But the hunters just rolled their eyes. _Boys_, they thought.

"_I don't think I belong there" I tell him_

_"But you haven't been there"_

_"C'mon,p—" _A stopped. He almost said Percy. But at least he said 'p' enough so that they didn't know whether it was p or b or something else. "Okay guys, I'm not allowed to tell you the identity of my Ace—yet. SO let's just assume that I call him Ace at that time. _I said, "C'mon, Ace. It'll be cool! Us against the world. You got to admit, it'll be pretty lonely without us making you laugh" I told him, and he laughed at that._

_"I won't be lonely, stupid. I have friends who I don't wipe their memory once you go back to camp" he tells me_

_"But Ace! PLEASE! I promise I won't be a drag"_

_"Look, it's not that I don't want you to be there with me, it's just I can't be _selfish_ enough to bring you with me"_

_"What do you mean?" I say really confused"_

The hunters were confused too. They thought that this was where the Ace starts accepting demigods and the Pack is formed

_"Do you know who your parent is?" He asks and my eyes look darker. Why was he bringing my parent in this conversation. I shake my head._

_"You want to meet them" He tells it as if I could pick what he was implying: whether it was a statement or a question_

_"No I don't" I glared at him although I knew I was lying. He knew it too._

_"If you come with me, your parents will _never_ know you exist. As far as they know, _I_ don't exist. Get it? How would that feel to you? If it weren't for the two people who knew who I was, and my patrons, I would've gone crazy when I look at a mirror. You know why? When I look in a mirror, I don't even know who I am! Sometimes I'm afraid that if I look in a mirror, I'd see _no one_ because I feel like I'm a ghost. Do you think I can do that to you?!" He was shouting at me at that point. That was the first among the three times he ever shouted to me in the past 600 years. What he said really scared me to the bone"_

The hunters were shocked. They guess that maybe…the boy was at least…okay? They didn't know exactly what they felt.

Thalia was shocked that Percy actually felt like that. If she knew, she would've quit the hunters sooner! How could she not notice that?! How could she leave him thinking like that?!

"_But—" That's when Hestia and Mars appeared._

_"This is stupid Auntie! Risky! We can't—"_

_"Shush, nephew" we heard them say. We bowed immediately._

_"Lady Hestia, Lord Mars" we said in unison._

_"Hello, we've been listening to your conversation" Lady Hestia says kindly to me. I almost mistook her for my mother—or at least, I wished she was my mother so hard that I almost fooled myself that she was. I noticed Ace's eyes widened. "NO! Why would you, lady Hestia? You can't drag him into this!" he says_

_"See, even the twerp agrees with me" I remember Mars scoffing._

_"Shush, this is what we will do from now on. Tomorrow, my champion shall erase your memories" she says and I was disappointed. I thought she would agree with me and help me convince Ace to take me in._

_"But, there will be one possibility for you to join. We shall erase your memories, but if you feel unneeded—unwanted, your memories will return as well as knowledge on my champion's whereabouts. This is so that we give you a chance to know your parents, other possibilities than what my champion can offer you"_

_And I started thanking her._

_"But there is a catch" she says_

_"Anything!"_

_"You must understand that my champion does not exist for a reason. And so, you shall not exist if you insist to be with him"_

_"Of course"_

_"And we will be your guide. You will not be our champion, but we shall be your patrons. We shall see your heart if you are worthy for the hearth and Mars shall test your soul if it is dedicated for his cause"_

_My eyes widen. "A chance for you to be my patrons is something that is worth my whole life"_

_"I like the kid" Mars say_

_"Flattery will get you everywhere" Ace laughs. _

_"I thought the saying said it was going to get me nowhere?" I ask_

_"That's the normal version. This was Mars's version"_

_"Hey!"_

_"Alright, alright. Now, my champion, you shall do this to all demigods so that if they feel unwanted they shall join you. I will make sure they understand the risk" Hestia says. Ace's eyes widened._

_"Hestia…" he says, at that time I did not know why he was dumbfounded._

_"Yes, little champion, they'll be your family. He will be your family—a new family"_

_"…a new…family…" he says as if in a daze and his eyes were shining then, and I saw a tear sliding down and he was smiling a very small smile._

_At that time, I didn't understand, but now I did. He was happy at the prospect of having a family, even if it was, at that time, a mere possibility. I could realize that back then, he was fighting, 'should I be happy at the prospect that he might not feel at home in camp so that I can have a family? No, I can't do that, that's selfish of me!' and I could see the uncertainty in his eyes, 'but if…'_

_And so, I went to camp along with my three friends. The boy, my friend, fit right in at camp. Everyone accepted him. But me…well, I'm in the Pack aren't I? I found Percy, he told me the risks, I'd told him I'd still do it. So he asked me, who I was._

_I told him, "My name is Shay"_

_And that was the beginning of the Pack"_

A closed his eyes and sighs. "Alright, that's my story. J! Get your ass here and continue our drama!"

The hunters were still processing the information they knew.

"Wait, wait! What happened to the girl you were with?" Annabeth asked.

A freezes. He gulps "the girl?" he asks. "Yeah, you said there were three of you."

"Well…." A says, he was trembling. "What's wrong with him? He's shaking" Phoebe asked. J put a hand on A. "Dude, you don't have to do this…I think" J whispers in a comforting manner.

"I…"

"Well?"

He takes in a shaky breath. "…like I said…I never felt at home at camp. I didn't know Ace back then—didn't remember who he was. But I had a feeling that…I didn't belong at camp, you know? Maybe it was stupid of me, or maybe the fates were playing their games, and that's why I ended up with P—Ace. But the girl…well, she was family to me. She kept me company. We had this little necklace that only the two of us had. She made me feel…okay. But she's gone and that's what drove me to remember the Ace's identity and Lady Hestia whispered in my head his current location. Boom, I found Ace and here I am."

"Did you love her?" a hunter asked.

"She was my family" A says with a gulp

"Is she…I don't mean to be insensitive…is she dead?" another hunter asked. A was closing his eyes now.

"No" A says. The hunters were confused "But isn't that 600 year ag—"

"She's not dead—she's a hunter"

All hell broke loose.


	19. Chapter 19

"WHAT!?" The hunters screamed and started asking questions at the same time.

Thalia just closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Who is she?!" was the question most commonly asked.

"Alright! A-a-alright. I'll tell you guys who she was" A says stuttering. He reached for a necklace inside his cloak—his hands were trembling. He took out a pendant which looked more like a rock.

"This is the rock that the hunter threw at the Cyclops that was trying to kill us before we met the Ace. We threw a rock each and it both hit the Cyclops's eye. Before she joined the hunt, she gave me the rock and I gave her the rock that I threw." A shifted the rock and there was two letters engraved in it: _JC_

"J-Josh?" A hunter says in shock and the moment she did, everyone quieted.

"Hey, Cassandra" A—no, Josh, says.

"Oh gods!" Cassandra says happily, went her way towards A, yanked down the cloth over his mouth and threw his goggles away.

"The Camp—Dray said you ran away and got killed by a monster!" Cassandra explained and was about to hug her when A step backward avoiding the hug.

"Josh?" Cassandra said confused with a hint of hurt in her voice. "Er, I don't know if I can hug a hunter" A says carefully looking at Artemis who—for the first time—smiled at a boy that was not the Ace or Percy Jackson and made a gesture that says 'go on'

And that's all it took for Cassandra to hug A and A to swing her around. Cassandra laughed and the hunters had to smile. It's been a long time since they heard their sister laugh like that. When A put Cassandra down, she punched A in the guts.

"Ow! What the! Cassandra?!" A says. And Cassandra was now glaring him. "YOU IDIOT"—punched him in the chest—"YOU RAN AWAY WITHOUT TELLING ME"—another punch—"MADE ME BELIEVE YOU WERE DEAD"—this time it was a kick—"AND ALL ALONG FOR THE PAST MONTH, YOU WERE SO NEAR ME AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME!" –one more punch—"How could you?!"—this time it was a slap.

There was a tear running down Cassandra's cheek. Josh went and removed it with his thumb. The hunters stiffened and was ready to pounce at Josh at any time. He was _too_ close to Cassandra and wiping a tear did not do well with the hunters.

"I'm sorry, Cassie. But you were gone with the hunters. And the condition to join the Pack was to cease to exist. And if I ever told you who I was, Hestia would've just wiped your memory. And I did check up on you, Cassie. Our missions coincide more than you think, and I always checked if you were okay. And the more I looked at you, the more I couldn't tell you who I was. I saw you, Cassie. You love the Hunt. And telling you my secret could've cost you leaving the Hunt. I couldn't do that, Cass. I wouldn't either. I'll never"

And with that, the Hunters relaxed a bit. At least the _boy_ had no intention of taking their sister away from the hunt.

"Alright, alright, 'nough of the reunion. We have to continue the story" L said and Cassandra and Josh plus the hunters glared at him. "What?" L asked and J shoved him away before L was castrated by the hunters.

"Alright. I'm J. And before anyone asks, I do not have relations with the Hunters. _But,_ I think I'm going to reveal some of us who _does _have one in my part of the story. Before I start, you guys want to take the juice offer from us now? J says. The hunters paused and thought before nodding. The Pack summoned glasses of juice asking the hunters what flavour. This time there was less…hostility between them when they asked.

"If you girls need refill, just ask the nearest Pack member. Please turn your attention to the fire now. Great! Let's get started

_ I never really went to camp. My father is Mars, and I've inherited something I'm not…proud to admit" _J scrunched his eyebrows and looked away.

The Hunters could feel the hesitation in the boy's voice. "If you don't want to tell us, then…it's okay" It was Thalia who said it. J shook his head. "No. If I'm not man enough to tell you then I might as well admit being weak"—which was a very child of Mars thing to say—"I…oh right. Since I've never been to camp and all my mortal relatives are dead, and the only people I consider family are the Pack and the Hunt"—the hunters were slightly surprised at the easiness he said this meanwhile the Pack just nodded in agreement—"You guys can't dig any info on me, besides, I trust everybody here with my life" Again, the Pack nodded in agreement which the hunters including their goddess took in a surprise.

"So with that, I've got nothing to lose" J says and takes off his cloth and then his goggles. He had jet black hair, but there was two strands that were coloured red. His eyes were yellow, but had a speck of red on the side

The Hunters have got to admit, he was pretty handsome.

"_My mother was a demigod, a daughter of Aphrodite"_—the hunters nodded in understanding. No wonder he looked like that—"_And so, I'm three quarters a god. That's why I sometimes where the red cloak, because if Zeus knew how powerful I was, then he'd have me killed as if my existence was 'illegal'"_ J spat. The hunters didn't understand. So what if he was a son of a daughter of Aphrodite and a petty child of Mars? Sure, Mars' children were great fighters, but not _that_ powerful

"_Back to my inheritance, truthfully, if you want to know who the most powerful demigod among the Pack then there's a possible tie between the Ace, our Lieutenant, and L. Next to them, there's another tie between B, C, M, and me. We're the next powerful._

_I hate my power…even until now._

_You see, when I was a kid, my mother married a mortal that worked in a perfume company to confuse the monsters sense of smell around me. This is one thing my Ace and I have in common: our mother married crappy step dads to make sure our scents were masked from the monsters._

_My step dad would always…hit me. Being the son of Mars that I am, I always tried to hit him back. I gave him bruises, you know? It humiliated him that a child could actually hurt him so he started…" _J took a gulp of air "_He started hitting my mother just to get to me. I think…I think if it wasn't for my mom's charmspeak, it was weak but you didn't need much to charmspeak a mortal, then he would've done worse."_

The hunters glared at the thought of a woman being abused

_"I could also charmspeak. But for some reason, my charmspeak was more prominent than my mother's. My mom said Aphrodite blessed me that when I was born. That's one of my powers that made me so…dangerous._

_I could make my step dad angry with one word, taunt him to a fight, or something, but still, I was a kid, there were limitations then. And when I was a kid, my charmspeak was weak—though stronger than my mother's—too. The older I got, the better at charmspeak I was._

_Things turned worse when I was seven. I got into a fight at school and then I got into a yelling fight with my classmates. And then another yelling fight with my teachers. And then again with the principal until the yelling was so hard that my voice was too hoarse to charm speak._

_When I got home my step dad was drunk and then we got into an argument too and my mom threatened to finally leave him and that's when he decided to…to rape my mom"_

Gasps here and the hunters were so angry that you could see black aura around them. The Pack was glaring too.

"_I couldn't do a thing damnit! I was kid who was strong—but not strong enough, and I couldn't charmspeak anyone because I was stupid enough to get my voice hoarse!_

_I was so angry._

_Angry at myself for being weak. Being stupid. Being the reason for every bad thing that happeaned to my mother_

_But most of all, I was fucking angry at the shithead that was about to rape my mother. That mother fucker._

_That was the first time I used the ability I've inherited from my father. That was the first time I ever activated the blood trance" _J shivered at the name

"The bloodtrance?" Artemis asked.

"It's why I can be as powerful as B and C. I…it's impossible for a demigod to inherit it from Mars or Ares, you know? If a demigod uses the blood trance, let's just say it'll burn your mortal side and you'd be left…er…looking inhumane. But since I have more godly blood in me being three quarters god—"

"You can withstand the power, right?" Annabeth said in realization. J nodded his head.

"What exactly is the bloodtrance?"

"It's awesome!" "It's terrifying" the guys from the Pack were saying until J spat "It makes me a monster"

The Pack's eyes widened and they looked guilty. "Sorry, J. We shouldn't have praised it like that"

"S'okay"

"Why? What's so bad about it?" someone asks and J's eyes were suddenly turning into a scary red. L squeezed his shoulder, "J, control" he warned. J took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. It's just that…the blood trance is why I have these red locks of hair. When I activate it, the longer I spend with the bloodtrance the more strands of hair turns red. And you could see my eyes as if the red was creeping on the yellow. It usually goes back to my natural colour when the bloodtrance is over.

_So anyway, I was in a bloodtrance. Suddenly, I could feel the strength of everything and everyone who was around me. I could feel the blood running through my step dad's. I felt strength. My eyes turned to bloody red, and I punched my step dad._

_He crumpled in pain and he was going to attack again, but everything was in slow motion except for me._

_I…I was seven and I…I killed him._

Gods, you guys don't understand how…traumatic it was. And you know what was worse? I couldn't stop myself from killing him. A-a-and, while the bloodtrance deactivated slowly, I _liked_ what I felt. Shit. After I was done, gods, gods, gods, fucking gods, I gutted him like a pig. His organs were all over…"

The Hunters were looking away from the camp fire because of the grotesque images it was showing

"…._and I was a damn seven year old! My mom tried to calm me down, but I was afraid that the next time I got angry…oh gods, I ran away because I didn't want my mom to suffer just because her kid was a monster_

_I was sixteen when my father offered me: a satyr to take me to camp, or the Pack. I didn't want to chose anything afraid I'll just kill everyone._

_And my father laughed at me. He said, 'you maybe my kid, Zared, but don't be cocky. If you're not careful the Pack will kill_ you_ and not the other way around'_

_Upon hearing this, I gladly made my choice. Glad to know someone could kill me before I could kill so many more._

_I met the Pack. At that time, it was just the Ace, the lieutenant, A, and G._

_I found them while G was crying. G was seven. And her fourteen year old sister abandoned him for the Hunt"_

"What?!"

G took a deep breath and removed the cloth from his mouth and his goggles.

"Hey sis" He said in a nervous smile.

"Garsiv?" a hunter asked in shock. "You have a sister, Atalanta?" Thalia asked surprised. Thalia knew Garsiv had a sister in the hunt, but she didn't know who exactly

And then the two got reunited. On to the story!

"_And then they noticed me._

_'My father sent me here' I told them._

_"Who's your father?" Ace asked me_

_"Mars" and they started to grin but that's when I attacked them in a bloodtrance._

_You see, by the time I was sixteen I was being eaten by guilt. I came to them to die. And if I killed them instead, well, maybe I'd get guilty enough to the point that I was mentally unstable and some monster would kill me._

_I was actually sceptical that they'd beat me. I was expecting the latter of the two outcomes._

_You know what was surprising? Ace fought me one on one and I lost in three minutes"_

"What?!" The hunters said. They'd been saying that a lot now.

"Wait! Isn't the Bloodtrance like the Blessing of Ares? How could he beat you?!" Annabeth demanded

"Yeah, Bloodtrance is exactly like the blessing of Ares—only that in bloodtrance, in exchange for invincibility, I had to make sure I kill and gut everyone"

Some of the hunters cringed "So how could he beat you?"

"Let me continue the story

_Usually, everything is in slow motion, but the Ace wasn't. He was moving in normal speed._

_And my strength? Ha, he overpowered me!_

_But I had one trick out of my sleeve. I tried to remember my anger towards my step dad._

_I tried to remember the feeling of blood in his veins—until I could feel the blood in Ace's veins—until I controlled the flow of the Blood in Ace's veins—"_

"WHAT?! YOU CAN CONTROL BLOOD?!"

Even Artemis demanded the answer to this. She couldn't believe Mars would just gift this child with such dangerous power!

J decided to ignore them and continue with the story

"_And so, I felt that tug in my body and tried to control his blood. The moment I did, I could feel my own blood boil. That's the draw back. Even after years of practice, it just hurt my blood more. That's my limit. My godly blood could only take so much, afterall, I wasn't completely a god. I can only do so much as make the enemy freeze via their blood for a moment. But usually that was enough for me._

_But the thing is, I _couldn't _control the Ace's blood_"

"What? Why!?"

"Is he a son of Mars too?"

"The identity of our Ace will remain secret unless the Ace himself is the one who reveal it" L said

"_I froze_

_And the next thing I know, he has his sword on my throat_

_"What the hell are you doing attacking us?!"_

_And that's when I told him my story. He got angrier_

_"YOU IDIOT! Mars sent you here because you're _family_, stupid"_

_"But—"_

_"But what? You gonna kill us? The only person you can probably kill is Garvis over there. If you really want to do anyone some good, join us. Hestia'll give us missions to save demigods like you or trigods or whatever"_

_"But—"_

_"And if you ever go to bloodtrance mode, will kick your ass, Zared. Speaking of missions, we got one in Hawaii. HA-WA-II. OH YEAH" the Lieutenant said._

_"Hawaii?" I asked them then because I had no idea what they were saying._

_"Yup, welcome to the family, little bro"_

_And that's what sealed the deal._

_Everytime I lost control, the Ace and the Lieutenant would stop me, and when L came, he stopped me too. One time, I lost so much control that L let me drive my sword into his sides._

_"L," I said._

_"Have you got your brains back, Zared?" he says_

_"I'm sorry"_

_"Ha, don't ya remember? Family, Zared, I promised" And then he coughs out blood._

_"L!"_

_The Lieutenant came out as if from the shadows then. "Zared?!" he said. "I'm fine. I'm fine! It's L you need to worry about!" I told him but he shook his head._

_"Are you sure you're okay?"_

_"I'm fuckin fine! L is bleeding to death!"_

_"Don't worry about it, idiot. Ace will heal him in no time. Are you sure you're okay? You didn't use blood control? No blowbacks or boiling blood?"_

_"L!"_

_"Chill man, it's gonna be fine. If he didn't let you stab him, I'd kill L. Family protects family"_

And that's my story"

"Well, you guys, it's almost midnight or something. Let's call it a day, ne?" L said.

The hunters and some of the Pack had their eyes half closed already.

"Alright" Artemis said. "We'll continue this tomorrow."

* * *

The Hunters trudged to their campsite. 30% drowsy 80% mind blown.

They still couldn't think of the Pack as…as…._brothers_. The hunters shivered at the thought. The hunters with brothers?! That's just wrong.

But their eyes widened when they saw their campsite.

Just by the border of their camp, werewolves were lying dead everywhere. And on the border line of their campsite, tigers and lions prowled as if guarding their territory.

Artemis knew who this doing was. She searched the bodies of wolves but when she didn't find what she was looking for "Send an arrow to the Pack! Now!" Artemis growled. "Attach a note and tell them that Lycaon attacked the camp while we were story telling but his body is still nowhere to be found! Warn them!"

Phoebe nodded and shot an arrow to the Pack's campsite.

But just as quickly, an arrow struck near Phoebe's foot which made her yelp. "What the?!" she says and plucked the arrow from the ground there was a note that was attached. It said:

_We know. Don't worry. We have empathy links between our companions…though we don't die when they die. We made sure not to get a single drop of mutt blood on your camp. Don't bother putting up watch guards. We know you're tired. Lions and Tigers are very territorial, they'll take care of everything. And don't worry about them either. They get their energy from us. Goodnight, sisters._

_Family protects Family_

_—L_

Artemis stared at it dumbfounded. Phoebe passed it on for the other hunters to see.

They too were shocked.

Thalia just smirked warmly.

The Hunt all had one thing going through their minds: _family protects family_

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they at least give the Pack the….the what? The Hunt wondered. The benefit of doubt? No. That wasn't it. Maybe they'd give the Pack a…small chance. Yeah. That's it. A small chance.

_Family protects family_


	20. Chapter 20

"Oh, okay, you want us to hunt with—wait, what?!" L said and the Pack shifted uncomfortably.

Sure, the Pack expected the Hunt to decline the offer with breakfast with them, but they sure as hell did not expect them to ask they wanted to hunt breakfast together.

"We want you to come hunt for breakfast with us" Artemis said with a tone as if they were doing stuff for politics.

Thalia wanted to laugh. This is going to be good. The other hunters are a bit reluctant with this offer, but they had all decided to give them a bit of a chance, so they agreed with this.

"Er," L didn't know what to say. He looked at his fellow brothers who seemed to be just as uncomfortable as he was. But of course, they couldn't decline Artemis's offer. It's never smart to not accept an invitation from a goddesses.

"Sure, Lady Artemis. We are honoured by your invitation" L says hesitantly which makes Artemis raise an eyebrow, though she let it go and said, "Alright, we'll meet you by the nearest slope of the mountains

* * *

Okay, right now, Artemis was regretting asking the Pack to join them for hunting. Inviting them was suppose to be a sign that they were trying to let the Pack be close to them, but Artemis really couldn't help rue offering the invitation.

It's not that the Hunt couldn't stand them it's just that...it's because, they kinda...oh hell, who was she kidding?!

The Pack was a FAILURE at hunting! And that's putting it in a mild way

"They walk so loud!" Phoebe complained

"I could feel their moement about 15 meters away!" said Melanie

"They're scaring off the animals within a 20 meter radius!" says Jamie

The last straw was K. K was about to tackle a dear from behind when he didn't notice that there was a hole between him and the animal. Of course, when he jumped for the dear, he fell.

"GAH!"

Thalia, Annabeth, Atalanta, and Cassandra couldn't help it and burst into laughter which caused the other hunters to follow

"Hey! It's not my fault I didn't see the ditch!" K complained and was blushing. Good thing they were still wearing hoods and the cloths and goggles over their faces because their embarrassment would only cause more hunters from hunt.'

"No offense, but what happened to the cool-headed, don't-get-in-my-way-I-won't-get-in-yours, we-won't-be-a-drag Pack!" Lila, one of the hunters, says between laughs.

The Pack groan. "Urgh! This is all the Ace's fault" J complained. Artemis paused and raised an eyebrow. "How is this your Ace fault?"

L scrunched up his eyebrows. "That's because-Oh wait, damn, I'm so stupid!" L says realizing something. He takes out a drachma from his cloak. "B, care to give me a rainbow or something here?" L says and B fumbles a little gadget that sprays some kind smoke.

"Oh fleecy, do me a solid, and show me the Champion of Hestia and Mars" L said and threw the coin

* * *

Percy couldn't have been anymore relaxed than now...though his muscles was still very soar.

He hears a sigh that came from somewhere near him. "Just a few more days, bro, and we can go back" Nico says and submerge himself in the water until it was almost in his eyes. Of course, Percy made an air coating above Nico's nose so that he could breathe.

They were in a wide pond but Percy made it so that it would heat up and act like a hot spring and mists were covering around them.

"Yeah, just a few more days-unless we die." Percy tells him

"Gah, don't remind me" Nico groans.

They see a shimmer further in front of them though they couldn't see it exactly because of the mist.

"_Ace? Lieutenant? Guys? We need a favor"_

Percy's eyes widen at the sound of L's voice.

"Dude! We're FUCKING STARK NAKED AND WE DON'T HAVE OUR HOODS ON!"

Percy exclaimed and willed the water to distort and cut the connection of the IM before any of them saw Percy and Nico in...um...all their glory

* * *

Just as soon as the IM was destroyed, L saw another IM shimmer and this time, they could clearly see two hooded figures with a pond behind them

Nico was only wearing a towel and Percy was wearing the towel and a shirt.

L raised an eyebrow "You left us to make friends with man-hating women-"

"man hating women right here, guys" Thalia says

"-just to go bathing in a hotspring?" L said.

Nico and Percy groaned. "_Wait, the hunters are there_?" Nico asks upon hearing Thalia's voice

L nodded "_And you IMed us naked with them there?_" Nico asked

"_Dude, that's just wrong!_" Percy says which caused some laughter and blushing from the hunters and the Pack

"_What do you want, anyways_?" Nico added.

"We want you to take off this damned things on our wrists and ankles. We're hunting with the hunters and we're dragging them down" L explained. Nico raised an eyebrow. "Hunting with them?"

"_Alright, I'll do it_" Percy says closing his eyes and mumbling words.

The hunters did not understand what was happening. And the words Percy was saying was muffled that all they could get out was _...let the binds unwound...by the power of Hestia...as the champion of Mars...I release._

At that moment, the Pack's wrists and ankles shown a bright light and something fell off of them and landed in a _very_ loud 'thud'

"Is that all?" Nico asked

"Yup, thanks"

"_You do know that the moment we get back, Mars will want to put it on you again, and every time you request it to be taken off, it'll only get heavier by half as much_"

L groan "_I know. Don't remind me, now shoo!_" L says as he waves of the IM. The last thing they heard was Percy muttering "Whoa, man, I can feel the appreciation"

The Pack was now rubbing their wrists and stretching their feet as if a huge burden was taken off them.

"Gods, it's been a month"

"What are those?" Artemis asked.

"Those, my lady, is the sadistic part of having Mars as a Patron" L explained and the Pack groaned in agreement. Annabeth walked over to one of the cylindrical wrist bands that came off of their ankles and wrists. She tried to carry them. "Skata, this is heavy!" she exclaims as she barely carries just one of them with both of her hands

"Wait, you've been wearing these from the start?" Phoebe asks who was trying to lift one too.

"Yup since Camp"

The hunters were dumbfounded and suddenly they felt a bit of guilt for they had purposefully moved, trudged, and walked faster this past month just to give the Pack a hard time. But realization dawned on them

"So you mean you were wearing these while we were playing Capture the Flag?!" Annabeth says slightly insulted.

The Pack's eyes widened with fear. "We're sorry!" they say having their hands crossed into an X in front of them as if in protection

Thalia laugh.

"Don't worry, _boys. _Here, catch" Thalia says as she press some kind of button in her bow and tosses to L. L caught it but his hand was forced to drop it with a very very loud 'thud'

"That's the weight of our bows in the CTF. We thought we should give you a handicap, plus, we always thought we would win so we thought it would humiliate you guys further if we wear carrying heavy bows to drag us down" Thalia says. The Pack nodded in understanding. What Thalia meant was 'I knew you guys would hold back, so I'm gonna make the Hunt hold back, 'cuz that's just plain insulting'

"Oh" they say. "Now, shall we hunt properly?" Thalia says smirking.

* * *

Once they had remove their weights, Artemis guess the Pack's hunting skills weren't so bad.

But the hunters were a bit confused by one thing: the Pack didn't try to brag.

That thought had puzzled them when the Pack did the impossible in the CTF and actually had a tie with camp.

And it puzzled them even more when the Pack had been able to keep up with the Hunt and did not offer smug-ish smirks.

Instead they seemed to have even understood the great feeling of hunting that the Hunters had always relished. They laughed happily when they felt the adrenaline that comes when the Hunters hunt.

Only those who truly appreciated the hunt actually felt that feeling.

And they did not even try showing off to the hunters, instead, they fell in sync with them: moving when they moved, adjusting their pace to the Hunt's as if their sole purpose was to make sure things were okay with the hunters.

And they did not say anything like 'see? we're just as good as you?' or 'that should teach you from belittling us'

Instead they had just smiled at them and thank them for the hunt as if the thought that the Pack did not drag or slowed the Hunt down or compromise them made them really content.

They were back in the Pack's igloo now and was going to continue the story sharing. The hunters were once again gathered around the pillar of camp fire and the Pack were scattered everywhere: giving the hunter some space, further at the back in the sofa, watching from upstairs.

"Hey guys, I'm Q. C was supposed to continue from yesterday, but you see, he's asleep" And as if to prove his point, C snored and as he did, some vines seemed to appear creeping around the sofa he was sleeping in.

"Sheesh, bro," Q says and raises a hand as if in concentration and willed the vines away. "Sorry about that, that always happens when we sleep. C and I have kind of the same brothers. I'm a son of Bacchus. I am also the last one here who has any relation to the Hunters"

Q took a deep breath and took of his hood, and his goggles and his cloth over his mouth. He had black wavy hair that grew up to his chin and entrancing purple eyes.

"My name is Quentin and I am the twin sister of the late Hunter Qylla"

The hunters eyes widened at the name of their dead sister. "Yes, I can see it now. You look an exact boy replica of Qylla" Artemis says with sadness obviously thick in her voice.

Quentin nodded.

"Here goes

_I was being brought to camp by a satyr with my sister. Qylla was older than me by a few minutes, but it felt like a few years because I always remembered her taking care of me._

_We ran into a couple of monsters and our satyr was overpowered and besides the fact that there were still abut a monster or two after us, we freaked out when we saw the satyr turn into some kind of rose plant" _The hunters and Pack members snickered at this.

"_And well, that moment was all the monsters needed to gain on us. I forced Qylla to go ahead, telling her we should split so that it'll make things harder, but truthfully, I was going to make a last stand to make sure my sister was safe._

_She bought the lie and I faced the monsters. And when a monster attacked me from behind, suddenly, some dude stepped out of the shadows and started killing the monsters._

_I didn't have time to worry about whether he was an enemy because, I was already wounded a lot from so much fighting. We fought back to back, but as soon as I saw the last monster disintegrate I lost consciousness._

_When I woke up, I was beside a camp fire wrapped up in a blanket with a boy who was staring at the fire as if it was talking to him. I only realized after I joined the pack that he really was talking via the fire...it's a Hestia's-my-patron thing._

_He healed me, and told me his name. He told me he was the lieutenant of this secret group._

_"Rescuing unclaimed newbies really isn't my thing. Usually, Ace let's me go and handles this stuff...or assign some of this stuff. I'm more of a save-demigods-in-quests-from-the-shadows guy" he told me._

_"So, why did you take this mission now?" I asked him._

_"It was accidental. I saw Ace about to leave and I ask him for details...you kind of reminded me about myself when I was a kid"_

_"I did?" I ask him_

_"Yup, I had a sister too and she always took care of me. Plus, we were also found by a satyr and had the manticore attacking us. And my sister also joined the Hunters"_

_At the mention of my sisters I jumped._

_"My sister! We have to find her"_

_"Relax, she joined the hunters, she's safe" he said and bit his lip hesitantly "plus, you won't be able to find her with the hunt"_

_"What?!"_

_That's when Lieutenant explained to me what you guys where._

_Qylla thought I was dead so she joined the hunt._

_I was a bit furious at first. I didn't want my sister taken away._

_That's when the Lieutenant told me about my options: the camp or the pack._

_I didn't want to go to camp. My sister wasn't there. Plus, he told me that usually, Ace had stationed some of us always near the missions of the Hunters-though we don't interfere unless completely necessary-because the Pack has relatives there. And I also did not want the gods to know about me nor did I want to meet my father._

_By the time I joined the Pack, there were a lot of us already so the Pack's initiation was quite overwhelming"_ Q says

"You guys still have to test these kids before you let them join?" Phoebe says a little bit disgusted at the thought that initiation means analyzing their abilities. Analyzing their abilities means that the Pack are low enough to only want those that are good enough to join them.

"Let me explain

_The Pack explained to me the meaning of having Mars and Hestia as my patrons. With Mars, I was to make sure I knew of three things: dignity, respect, duty._

_I needed to know the meaning of respect and how only with respect will I be able to co-exist with everything, everyone, anything, and anyone._

_I needed to never forget about my duty, and how forgetting it is like forgetting the purpose of my being._

_I needed to earn the real essence of dignity, and how it's not the same as pride, because dignity is the symbol that we acknowledge the worthiness that our patrons saw in us, no matter how small we think ourselves be_" Q says

The Hunters saw the Pack straightened, especially J.

Ah, they understood. J thought he was a monster because of the blood trance. A was made to think he was worthless in camp. And who knows what doubts the Pack had of themselves. They are happy and they feel lucky that someone-let alone a family and to patrons-acknowledges that there's something worth in them.

This, the hunters realize, was what was different in the Pack than in other _boys_. They are not full of themselves. They are humble enough to doubt whatever greatness they earn.

"_These were the original values that our Ace had, and the original values that Ares forgot he was responsible for but remembered because of our ace._

_With Hestia, she made sure that we held one thing higher above all the rest: family._

_When you join the Pack, Hestia will show you visions of her memories. How she had always cared for her father, the Titan King, despite the treachery he did. How she wasn't jealous, unlike some of her siblings, that Zeus was save the horrible wrath of getting eaten. Instead, she felt happy because her mother was able to protect her brother, and sorry because she had failed to save her other siblings._

_All she wanted was to let all of her family, his father mother siblings-all of them, to be safe_

_That's what we learn when we enter the Pack. Family protects Family._

_But she also taught us another thing. True Family knows how to let go._

_She taught us how she learned to accept of what has become of their power hungry brother._

_How victory has turned her brothers against each other._

_She taught us that if we really care about family, we'll care for them even when they had changed. If they had turned to the other side, or if, like some of our parents, disown or not care for us, it is alright that we are hurt._

_It is alright to feel pained by their betrayal._

_That didn't stop us from hating them. But that didn't stop us from still caring for what was once our family._

_Our Ace had been questioned once, and in turn had questioned Mars, 'do we fight with the gods because they are good, or because they are family? If push comes to shove and our secret is out, who will you fight with?'_

_Mars did not answer_

_I remember Hestia showing me that her eyes sparkled when she saw that in Ace's heart and in Mars's heart, they already had an answer. And I always see that same sparkle in her eyes when a new recruit of the Pack reaches the same conclusion:_

_We fight with the gods because they rule better than what we fight against. We fight with the Pack because they are our family. And if push against to shove, then we will fight against our family precisely because of that-because we are family._

_Once, we reach that epiphany, that's when Hestia truly makes us belong to the Pack._

_When you belong to the pack, you will be slightly blessed by both patrons_

_And you will see the memories of all the members of the Pack as if you were with them the whole way. That's why it was overwhelming for me when I joined them. I had relived the lives of my brothers-all of them. I had learn to understand them in minutes._

_That is our initiation"_ Q finishes and the Hunters were again in awe at the depth of the brotherhood of the Pack.

Surely, this is makes them worthy of that one small chance?

But how can they trust boys? For all they know, they are bending the truth

_Oh, niece. This is my home. Though my Pack does not show their uncomfortable state from sharing to strangers like you (you are not the only ones who feel like they are letting an outsider point a gun on their chest), the hearth-that camp fire only allows them to speak what is in their heart._

Artemis eyes widened and so did the hunters. They had recognize that voice. Only Hestia could speak as warmly as that.

The Pack scrunched their eyebrows. "You guys okay?" "You kinda stiffened so suddenly" were said and a bit of concern was evident in their face.

The hunters were having very uncomfortable mixed feelings about the Pack right now. You know that moment when you know that you are about to make a decision soon, like that decision is beyond a cliff, and you are going to fall off that cliff inevitably? That's what they were feeling right now

"Okaaay, so let me talk next" a Pack member said because the Hunt's silence was making the Pack fidgety. The hunters were more than glad to find a distraction from all their mixed feelings. The boy step out. The hunters felt a little bit sleepy. That was weird

"I'm X. My real name is Septimus. Call me Tus. I am a son of Hypnos and also a son of a daughter of Horme"

"Horme?" one of the hunters asked.

Annabeth automatically answered, "spirit of energy, activity, and impulse. That's weird, I don't remember anything about spirits having children."

"They don't actually. Usually, a spirit could enter a mortal's body, have a night with another mortal, and then leave the body at the same night. They can't stay long in one body, you see. And the child created at that night will be mortal-except that he will be.." Artemis paused for the right word, "celestial enough to withstand the blessing of the spirit"

"Yup, yup, and did I mention that Zeus made it illegal for spirits to bless the child some time ago because it makes the spirit weaker? Though he is actually a bit lenient with that law. So that's why I'm not really wearing the red cloak.

BUT, because my mother was a daughter of Horme, spirit of energy and impulse, it help when I was born because it counteracts most of my sleepiness, and I could control my father's domain much better than my half siblings.

And, before any one asks, nope! I do not have drama in my life like J and A or the others! I only joined the Pack because one, my father Hypnos knows and is an ally of the Pack from almost the start"-hunters' jaws drop here-"so my father told me right away about the offer to join!" X was almost jumping as he said this. "And! And! If I wasn't as sleepy as my siblings at camp, that'd be suspicious, considering I can't stop moving! So when a satyr found me and told me a monster was following me, I ditch him! Hahahahahaha"-and now, the hunters were questioning the boy's sanity

"On with my story!

_As I said, I ain't got no drama!_

_I saw camp from an IM and I thought, training and all? Boring! I'm not even allowed to go outside of camp just because of some stupid monsters-might-attack chance. Sheesh!_

_And so when my father told me about the Pack and all that secret mumbo jumbo, I thought, what the heck! And I joined them because I felt like it!_" The hunters were staring at the boy. Was he crazy?

"_But then, I got pass the initiation of the Pack, and I knew then and there that this...family...might be the only thing that I could always go back to. Having the blessing of the spirit of impulse makes 'permanent' kind of the holy grail, you know? And that was what the pack was: will be. Permanently stuck with them"_ He suddenly changed from hyper to some kind of sober.

"He's bipolar" A Pack member whispers to the hunters earning chuckles. And that Pack member suddenly had his eyeballs dull and collapsed asleep the moment he finished the 'r' in bipolar.

"Septimus" the Pack groaned.

"What? He was asking for it!" Tus laughed

"I told you to stop forcing your brothers to fall asleep!" The hunters realized how powerful a son of Hypnos with the resistance from sleeping can be

"Alright, alright" Tus yawned-the hunters were now going crazy, hyper to sober to laughing to yawned?-and snap the kid back into a groggy conscious state.

"_So anyway! There's also a limit to my blessing from Horme. If I use to much Hypnos power then I get sleepy, oh, and I can't completely suppress the go-to-sleep aura children of Hypnos usually oozes to those near them, that would explain why some of you guys are a bit groggy from hearing my voice! End of my story! Told you there was no drama! Plus, my story is completely out of the topic! I just felt like sharing!"_

The hunters laughed. Yup, Septimus was definitely an oddball.

A boy then started to tell his story

_"Alright, I'm H. My real name is Colt. I won't be telling you guys my story, but instead the story of our companions. My Ace's wolf, Aku. The Lieutenant's Lion, Pisto. Our lions. Our tigers. Truthfully, I don't know why someone as great as them would follow us around. But I guess, it all started with Aku and Ace"_


	21. Chapter 21

"_Remember when I said the Ace had two friends who knew of the secret he kept? Yeah, well, he was kind of in training with those friends under Hestia and Mars. At that time, there was no pack. Although, what they did became one of the traditions in the pack. You see, they were having a problem with one of the Ace's...condition"_ Colt says

"Condition?" Annabeth asked.

"Er, well, you guys know that every demigod has godly energy in them, right?" L said. They nodded.

"Let's just say that the Ace has _too_ much energy in him, and at that time, he had a very huge wound around his body and back that the excess energy didn't allow it to stop bleeding" L says.

Artemis eyes widened. The moon shaped scar on his front!

"_Anyway, whenever he tries to use some of his...inherited powers, the energy is at war with the healing process of the wound. So Lady Hestia suppressed the Ace's powers and lock them away. But that wouldn't do any good, because sooner or later, the Ace will need his powers back. So Lord Mars had convinced Lady Hestia to teach them something that Zeus forbade since the birth of the first half blood"_

Artemis gasps. "You don't mean..." she says and L only nodded to that. "But that's impossible! It is one of the very few laws of Zeus never to be broken!"

"Well, our companions are living proof that it's not..." L trailed off and Artemis's eyes widened. "You mean they are..."

Colt continued reading before Artemis would burst.

"_This is one of the secrets about demigods that the gods have kept. To understand this secret, we will have to a question and to the meaning of what a 'god' is._

_The question: how do gods or goddesses get their domains?_

_How did Lord Zeus get the sky? How did Dionysius have power over wine?_

_Sometimes we forget that the gods are not humans._

_They are not flesh and bone, blood and sweat like us._

_They are of no brain of no heart—"_

"Excuse me!" Artemis says.

"Oops. I did not mean it that way, Lady Artemis.

_We forget that they are in fact a big mass of energy that has consciousness._

_They get their domains via having their energy be compatible to them._

_And so, if we are demigods, we shall inherit the slightest—if not none—of their powers, and be half human, and half gods. Or in other words, half pure energy, are we not?_" Colt asks.

Annabeth seems to be taken in. "If you say it that way..."

_"That would explain how to make a demigod a god: by making the pure energy in us lose, and burning out our mortality. And that would explain how Dionysius was not made a minor god of the sky or lightning. His energy was more inclined and found wine more compatible to convert to._

_And that is how Lady Hestia explained it to us. That's the simplest way to explain an inkling of it because only the gods actually understand it wholly._

_And so, this the training that the gods prohibited. Making it known to demigods how to use the pure energy side of their heritage._

_There were two main reasons: one, it is not wise to grant people with too much power. Two, they did not want their children to die trying to learn how to do this._

_Now, this is the goal of the training: to make the three of them control that pure energy and to lock it away securely._

_This is the danger of learning how to use the pure energy: if you do not will the energy to be inclined to something, then, it could become anything—in short, the power of creation"_

The hunters gasps.

"But!"

"That's!"

Artemis was fuming in the inside. Why the hell did her step brother be foolish enough to tell them this.

"_Now, all of you must understand that once you let yourself be known to the pure energy within us that is dormant against our mortality, you only have two fates: master it or be incinerated by it._

_There are only three demigods in all of the history of demigods who were able to control _all_ of their pure energy. Yup, you guessed it right. It was the three of them._

_They had control of every drop of energy that is them. Now, once they did that, there was only one problem: what to do with the energy. The energy must be inclined to something or it will lash out._

_And so, the three of them let it be inclined to one thing for each of them_

_To the first one"_ Colt says looking discreetly at Thalia "_The energy was made to be induced into a virtue, and then out of that energy came a little tigress—a tigress to represent dignity. The dignity that whoever else it is that rules the jungle, the tiger always knows and is sure of the power and capability it holds._

_To the second one, the energy was made to be induced with duty, and out of the energy was formed into a small lion cub. After all, the lion has always prided himself to be the king and as such makes sure that he always knew what his duty was._

_And to our Ace, the energy was filled with respect._" Colt says thinking that among Mars's three values, he was inclined to respect. Percy always did respect people who deserved it. He respected nature when he whole heartedly believed his friend, the Lord of the Wild, when he did not force that river naiad to use her water to clean the stables of horses that wanted to eat him, when he respected the decisions of some of the gods like Hermes and said sorry about questioning them, and when he respected power that he was always humble enough because of it. Colt continued, "_Out of the energy formed his wolf cub, Aku. He was named from the one of the gods of the moon. The wolf, after all, is in its own league. And it was always respected and it had also always respected others_

_So technically, the Ace was momentarily safe, because his pure energy was used in creating Aku. Our companions always helped a lot when it comes to controlling power._

_BUT, after that, all three of them where induced to a forty day comma because of the amount of energy they had taken away from themselves. It took forty days to get their energy back" _Colt barked a laughter and so did the other members of the Pack.

"_This became the tradition of the Pack. But like I said, only the three of them were able to master all of the energy they had. Most of the Pack can barely take hold of more than 15 percent of all their inherited godly energy._" Colt says.

"It makes the coma shorter too!" someone barked out laughing

"Yeah, it only took us like, ten days?" J says.

"But that's not the hardest part about having to create our companions," Q groaned.

The hunters raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Well, that's because once they were...uhm...born, the problem was that, it's not like they were attach to us. It's just that we had energy that we needed to use or else we'll explode, and it just so happens that they used that energy. But that doesn't mean they are attached to us in anyways!"

"In fact, they wanted nothing to do with us!"

"We let them join their own prides, packs, dens, or whatever. The only reason their following us is that we convinced them that we are worthy"

"How?"

All of the Pack flinched—including Thalia—and their eyes were automatically filled with fear.

"by some...uncomfortable...way"

"So, are you like connected with your companion by any way?" Annabeth asked.

"Sure. We can speak to them...er, well it's kind of different for them. We speak to them, and we feel what they feel, so we know their reply. They are animals after all, so all they can give us is to know what they are feeling or...images. I don't really know how to explain the feeling of them ...'showing' us other than 'images'"

Meanwhile, Annabeth's head was turning gears. Talking to the pack, she had confirmed a lot of suspicions, but to her annoyance, talking to them brought her new ones twice as much.

* * *

**A/N: SOME SHOUTOUTS TO SOME OF THE REVIEWERS!**

**Before everything else, it's been a long time since I've thanked you guys! Not just the reviewers, but also the viewers! I really appreciate you reading my story, let alone reviewing it, and don't worry! I read all reviews too! Thanks again!**

**OK, to the individ.**

**I'd like to say, Avivfe or Aviv, love reading your reviews. They make me smile and laugh. Oh and thanks for the corrections (THAT GOES TO EVERYONE WHO POINTED OUT SOME MISTAKES) I try my best, but really am sorry when I make them cuz I can't help it when I use my tablet for typing. **

**Also, I'd like to ask, is it just me or is it that every time Zeus795 and Zylus review or read right after the other? Like when one of them reviews, soon the other would review too? Hahaha**

**And to those who asks questions about the story, thanks for asking! You guys are funny. I try to answer the ones that won't interfere with the plot via each chapter.**

**Oh and truthfully, these 21 chapters are actually like a, i dunno, just 5 chaps of the actual plot. Hope I don't bore you to death because this is just the beginning!...i think...HAHAHAHA**


	22. Chapter 22

Artemis was wandering around the mountain side. She needed time to think. She had left her hunters in the care of the Pack this time. Crazy, isn't it? Having the hunters stay with a bunch of _boys_, but they didn't seem to have a problem.

When Artemis checked on them before she left, they were doing exactly what the Pack had suggested. They went into one of the other igloos. The hunters were surprised. They were expecting another cottage of some sort, but instead, they were faced with a training ground that has—much to the hunters' pleasure—an impressive archery range.

The Pack had said that while the first igloo was from Hestia, this igloo was from Mars. As of the moment, the Pack had offered to have some spars with the hunters, because at least this time, they aren't hiding anything from them and so they could fight freely.

Artemis needed to analyze all the information she had now, and carefully ask questions of her own later at dinner, where the Pack had offered another dinner and would continue to tell stories of their lives afterwards.

She was about to hop into a steep ground when she had noticed something watching her. She discreetly peaked to see who it was at the same time made sure that whoever it was would not know that she knew of his presence.

It was the Ace's wolf!

What was its name? Archie? Aki? Ak—Aku. Yes, that was it. It's name was Aku. Now, the question is, what was it doing here? But then again, for all she knew, the wolf was here all along and that he did not follow its master.

And then, Artemis got hit by an idea. Wolves are one of her symbol after all, right? She turned herself so that she'd face the wolf and let her know she knew of his presence. Quickly, the wolf bowed its head as if acknowledging a superior but the bow was short lived for the wolf brought back his head as if it was saying, 'I respect your power, but leave me alone'

Artemis couldn't help but laugh. That's exactly what Lupa did when she met her for the first time. This time, Aku let out a small whine and tilted his head as if questioning Artemis's laughter.

Artemis slowly walked towards the wolf as if she was wanting to tell it, 'I only want to talk'

The wolf awkwardly waited for her with a question in his eyes. Now, Aku and Artemis were just a feet apart. To Aku's surprise, Artemis kneeled beside him so that she was levelled with the wolf and had gestured to rub the behind of his ear. Aku was more than happy to let her.

"Hello, wolf," Artemis says rather fondly, after all, she loved wolves. She was closer to the wolf now and with her other hand, she scratched the part below the wolf's jaw.

"What are you doing here, wolf?" Artemis asked, and for a moment, the wolf made his way out of the goddess's hands and tilted his head down and was glaring at Artemis expectantly. What did he want?

"Oh, alright, I shall call you Aku," Artemis says hesitantly not sure if that was really what he was asking for, but it was. At the sound of his name, the wolf practically jumped on Artemis making her laugh as he licked her cheek and was now wagging is tail.

"You are acting more of a pup than a wolf now," Artemis says with a small chuckle. If wolves could roll their eyes, Artemis thought Aku would've then.

Artemis was having fun with the wolf that she had forgotten what she wanted to do. Having the wolf as one of her symbols, she was able to communicate with them similar to the way the Pack had described. She wondered, since this was something the Ace created, if she'd have any influence on the said wolf. After all, considering that he had a different creator, he was technically somehow a different type of specie all together.

"Would you speak to me, Aku?" Artemis asks gently and hesitantly. Gently so as to show him that she means no harm. Hesitantly so that she'd let her know she is giving him a choice. Again, the wolf tilted his head in a question as if to ask, 'what would you like me to tell you'

Artemis smiled one of her dazzling smiles. 'Anything' she says. This seemed to make the wolf enthusiastic. And suddenly, Artemis wasn't hearing the constant rustling of leaves. Artemis wasn't feeling the soft whispering wind. She wasn't feeling the hardness of the mountain grass. Suddenly, she wasn't there anymore.

_Artemis was in a memory. She could see a small ball of silver that seems to be a pup. The pup had opened his eyes, and suddenly, Artemis felt overwhelmed._

_It took a moment before she could process that she was feeling what Aku felt and that the pup was actually Aku and this was the first time he had ever laid eyes in the world. Aku was taking in everything: the smell, his eyesight, everything and all the depth of his sentence._

_And then, Aku the pup slowly turned around to see a boy. He had not looked up to see his face yet, but he could feel the boy's presence. It was...weak. The boy in front of Aku was...weak, and he wanted nothing to do with weaklings. Aku was going to look up and he saw that the weakling had the nerve to be grinning like a fool. And Aku's sight travelled further up to—_

Aku growled.

'Oh,' Artemis thought as she realized that— she wasn't supposed to see that. The boy was the Ace. Artemis had almost seen who the Ace was! It was so close! She saw the shape of his jaw. She saw black hair that seemed to be in a mess and was long enough to be seen at the side of his neck. She was so close! And that's when Artemis realized why she was here in the first place.

"Oh, I'm sorry Aku," Artemis cooed. "I didn't mean to see it," Artemis says because it was true. She would never force or take advantage of a wolf's kindness. Aku hesitated a bit before he allowed Artemis to touch her again.

"Why did lunge at me when we met at the Olympian Throne Room? I thought you were going to attack me only to find you cuddled in my lap," Artemis asked. This time, Artemis was sure that the wolf had rolled his eyes and barked a laugh as if to say, _and I thought you were going to throw me on the ground only to find you scratching my ear and allowing me to stay on your laugh._

"Touche," Artemis laughed. She was really enjoying talking to this wolf, and looks like the wolf has managed to be amused by her too. "Shall we walk?" she offered and went on to walk. Aku followed beside her. To her surprise, Aku had once again whisked her away to another of his memory.

_Aku was looking at the back of the Ace only that the Ace's cloak was torn, the hood was down and Artemis could finally see the wholeness of his head. He really did have jet black hair that was some sort of mess. Though, Artemis still couldn't see his face. Aku could see that the Ace was barely holding on, but Artemis could feel what Aku was trying to show her._

_This was the time Aku decided to follow the Ace. She could feel Aku oozing respect. And she could feel the silent vow that Aku had felt at this time—that Aku was bested by this man and that he would follow him even against the world_.

Artemis smiled warmly at the wolf just before she was whisked away to another vision.

_Aku was playing with that white lion that always tailed the Lieutenant. They were cubs, and the lion cub was persistently following Aku like a child would follow his brother._

_The lion cub, what was his name? Pisto? Yup, that's what Artemis remembered. Pisto, which Artemis had to admit was awfully cute because of his pup like built and feline like cute eyes plus white fur—actually he looked like a teddy bear—lunged at Aku to tackle._

_Artemis could feel what Aku felt, a feeling that screamed 'not again! Oh fine, Pisto, we shall play again!'_

_Artemis couldn't help but laugh as Aku makes his feelings unknown, and then Artemis felt Aku the pup notice something. Aku the pup instantly felt more alive as he turned around to see a little cub that had black fur and what looked like little small white stripes—_

The vision was cut again. Artemis eyes widened. Could it be? It awfully looked like her lieutenant's tigress. Seriously, it isn't like there are a lot of black tigers with white stripes. None sense! Thalia had brought back Nix when she was already big...but...

Artemis heard a ruffling sound further before them. Aku tensed. What was he supposed to do? If the wolf leaded Artemis away, it'd be only be more suspicious. Stupid! He had led the goddess to his master, and at the worst of times! Aku couldn't help but whimper.

Artemis discreetly went to the source of the sound. Who was in this forest? They were far away from any of the villages and towns. This was certainly a place that few of the mortals know. All of her hunters and the Pack were in the igloo. So who could it be?

"Take of your shirt, now" Artemis heard a voice demand. It was familiar. Artemis eyes widened. No.

As if just to prove her suspicions, "Thalia, please, I won't. Just go back. I'm tired, and I'm okay, so there's no need"

It was! Oh how emotions boiled and stormed inside Artemis.

"C'mon! Just take it off!" Thalia demanded. It was betrayal that was prominent in all of Artemis's warring feelings. And it stung the worse.

"Urgh, this is stupid! I'm okay! Fine, gah! I'll take it off!"

This was the last straw. After this, there will be no Pack. There will only be a colony—a colony of jackalopes.

* * *

"Where's everybody?" Percy asked, his body was sore and his oh-reliable-trusty-wolf (in all sarcasticity of course) decided to go on a walk, now of all times, when he needed to lie down on him the most.

"They're in the training igloos. I sneaked out. Where's death breath?" Thalia asked. Percy wanted to know everything that has happened the past few days he was away.

"Has the Pack finished telling their stories?" Percy asked, Thalia shook his head impatiently.

"No, now where's death breath?" Thalia asked.

Percy shrugged. "He's out cold. Aku was less...merciful. He just rode off so quick. Pisto decided to slow down their pace because Nico fell asleep on him. Death breath's wasted right now. He'll be here soon" Percy says deep in thought.

"If death breath's out cold, what about you? Are you okay?" Thalia asks a bit frantic.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Percy waves it off

"Kelphead," Thalia says testily examining him, there's a little red splat inside his cloak.

"Percy, your shirt" Thalia says

"It's nothing, just dried blood"

"Percy"

"It's nothing!" Percy says holding back a wince

"Take off your shirt, now"

"Thalia, please" Percy says. "I won't. I'm tired, and I'm okay. There's no need"

"Of course there's a need," Thalia whisper-growls. Percy look at her defiantly. "C'mon! Just take it off!"

"Urgh, this is stupid! I'm okay! Fine, gah! I'll take it off!" Percy says exasperated, retching his cloak off, and was about to take his shirt off and he was unable to stop wincing and flinching at the pain.

Thalia rolled her eyes, "See?" and was starting to help him take off his shirt when

"Oh, I see it alright, Thalia Grace"

Percy froze at the voice. He'd recognize it anywhere, and so would Thalia. She froze at the indifference and coldness her voiced was induced to. Plus, she flinched at her full name.

Artemis had _never_ used her full name. Not for the whole of the 700+ years she was alive.

"M-m-m-lady" Thalia couldn't help but stutter. This was a blunder!

They turned to see an enraged moon goddess that was glowing a dangerous glint of silver- - the same silver you'd see as your last sight as a blade pierces your heart.

The forest was responding to Artemis's anger

_Gamiseme Tora._

And just as Artemis was going to release her anger, the Ace and the moon goddess disappeared in a column of fire.


	23. Chapter 23

Hestia was having an internal battle. She was watching her niece walk with her champion's wolf. She was sure that at the pace they were going, they would stumble upon Percy and Thalia, the hunter who was supposed to be in the igloo. What should she do? It was moments away before this was going to happen. There was no avoiding the situation. If she were to help Percy and Thalia, Artemis was sure to feel a divine interference. But she had to act now.

A few seconds later…

"What is the meaning of this sudden meeting, sister?" Zeus asked as the Olympians appeared one by one. Apollo raised an eyebrow.

"Where's my sister?" he asked. Artemis was never one to be late to meetings. As if to answer Apollo's question, a column of fire appeared in the middle of the throne room.

"HOW DARE—what, where am I? And where is the _boy_?!" Artemis demanded

Zeus was perplexed. "What's wrong, daughter?"

Artemis was glowing a dangerous silver. "What's wrong that Mars's Champion was with MY HUNTER and YOUR DAUGTER taking his shirt OFF!" Artemis shouts

"WHAT?!" He says. "Where is he?! I shall have him—"

"Calm down, brot—" Hestia tried

"Do not protect your champion from me!" Zeus exclaimed

"Let me explai—" Hestia tried again

"We shall turn those _boys_ into jackalopes. Jackalopes! And we shall let their own tigers and lions hunt them dow—!"

"ENOUGH" Ares bellowed and suddenly the moon goddess and the king of the gods froze.

"Ares!" Hera chided. "How could you control your own family's ichor!"

Ares winced. He was the god of bloodshed so when it came to controlling ichor…well, he could only control it for so long.

"Hush, mother. Now, tell me, dear sister," Ares says calmly—much to the other Olympian's surprose. "Are you sure that what you say was tru—"

"Of course it's true! I saw it with my own eyes!" Artemis asked.

"Did you let my Champion explain what exactly he was doing?" Ares inquired

"There was no need! A _boy_ shouldn't even be as close as he was to one of my hunters!"

"And did you even look to see that maybe, just maybe, my champion was injured and that your hunter had tried to help him?"

"None sense! Why would my hunter be out in the woods unless to meet him deliberately in the first place! I have told her to make sure all the hunters what at camp!"

Ares was unfazed

"Then did you perhaps not consider to, oh, I don't know, TRUST YOUR OWN HUNTER—NO, YOUR OWN _BROTHER_ THAT HAD TRUSTED YOU ENOUGH TO SEND YOU THAT LETTER—THAT MAYBE JUST _maybe_ YOU HAD TO SHITTY LITTLE FUC—I MEAN FACTS BEFORE YOU CONCLUDED THAT MY PRECIOUS CHAMPION IS SO DAMN DISHONOURABLE AND DECIDED THAT HE FUCKIN DESERVES TO BE TURNED INTO A JACKALOPE?!" Ares shouted.

The Olympians were shocked. Ares had _never_ sounded so hurt or concerned about anything. But what he did next surprised them even more.

Ares was turning red with anger. He took a deep breath mumbled something which sounded like counting numbers and let out the breath and said, "Sit. Everyone. Maybe it's time I tell you one of my Champion's _secret_ missions for you to understand that he would _never ever_ do anything to hurt your hunte—no, why he would never hurt any woman at all. Maybe after someone would grace me even a fraction of an ounce of trust that according to how you lot decided to jump to a hastly made conclusion, I apparently do not deserve" Ares spat hurt and rage evident on his voice.

Artemis was shocked. This Ares—the one that is affected by the opinions and trust of others—is nothing like the jerk of a brother he was before.

"This is the story of why my Ace has a permanent scar of a crescent moon at his front and a scar of a bow with an arrow notched on it at his back" Ares started

"Wait, what? He has a scar of a bow and arrow at his back?" Artemis asked completely bemused.

"Yes, _trustful_ sister, he has a goddesses symbols as scars on his body—your symbols to be exact"

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know, it's super short. SORRY. But today's the first day of school so yeah.**

**I'll try to update as soon as I can (hopefully once everyday or every other day) and if I do update, it's probably around the time I updated this.**

**Really sorry, but you know how much a dam school can be. XD**


	24. Chapter 24

"Everyone was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ares says. "It's just been some decades since father had allowed the search for Perseus Jackson"

Poseidon stiffened at the mention of Percy. And his eyes were seas that didn't know if it wanted to be a tidal wave or a whirlpool the way Poseidon didn't know what exactly was he feeling when his son was concerned. "It was a waste of time," Zeus scoffed.

"If I recalled correctly, Artemis was hunting around Canada," Ares says looking at his sister who confirmed it with a nod. "Coincidentally, my Ace was on a mission for me at the same place," Ares says. That was a lie. It was neither coincidental nor a mission from him. Hestia informed Percy about the situation, and before they could even think of a plan together, Percy already went his way to go and made sure the Hunt was safe.

"Now, the problem was that the Hunt was in the way," Ares says . "Well, it's not our fault he was there! As far as I remember, we were following a trail that was supposedly Perseus's" Artemis stated.

"And that is exactly the problem, _trustful_ sister. Obviously, you found no Perseus Jackson in that Hunt. What you were following was my Champion's trail" Ares says. Technically, he wasn't lying.

So she was already close to finding the Ace before? Artemis mused.

"Now, you were all very close to capturing my Ace but what the Hunt didn't know was that it was a three way game" Ares says which confused everyone.

"What?" Demeter asked.

"What I meant was, Artemis was hunting down my Ace who was hunting down his mission who was hunting down Artemis," Ares says in one breath. This was slightly confusing.

"Just stop with the riddles, Ares. It doesn't suit you," Apollo groaned.

"Oh," Athena realized putting the pieces together…at least, the pieces that Ares gave her. "Are you saying that…?" Athena trailed off.

"What is it, Athena?" Hera asked.

"Isn't it obvious? It was a few decades after Perseus disappearance. Artemis was hunting down Ares's Ace who was on a mission hunting another person. The only way I'd assume that Ares would allow his secret Ace to cross paths is if their missions would coincide. So, think, besides Perseus, who else was Artemis instructed to hunt down at that period of Time?" Athena asks. The answer dawned at the Olympians. It was Dionysius who answered.

"The remaining Giants that escaped the war," he says in a bored way.

"Exactly," Ares says. "Our war escapees thought that if they didn't win the war, then at least they would get to capture and torture one of Olympus's beloved maiden princess"

* * *

Hestia wasn't really paying attention to his nephew. She was bothered by something else. Her presence you see was also at some other place….

"It's stopped bleeding, I promised," Percy says. The moment the column of fire died down and he saw that he was surrounded by a very familiar cottage, he knew that Hestia had helped him…which wasn't what he needed right now.

Before Percy and Artemis was snatched up by Hestia, a trickle of Artemis's deadly glow had found its way to Percy which didn't help the almost-not-bleeding scar at all.

_It_ was acting up again in reaction to Artemis's silver glow. Percy made a mental note not to get on Artemis's bad side, I mean seriously, if a trickle was so painful, what more if he was shot by a handful of Artemis's moonly powers?

Anyway, Hestia is the last thing Percy needed. He wanted to deal with this alone. But of course, the fates didn't make anything go in his way…usually, because moments later, Hestia appeared.

"Don't be ridiculous, Percy, let me see it"

Percy shook his head. No. He wants to do this alone. He needed to do this alone. It's almost starting! He didn't want Hestia to be here when he goes into like that.

Pictures flash into his minds unintentionally. And his vision became to swirl. "Please," Percy almost sounded like he was begging. "I…I can take care…of…my…self" Percy says as he struggles to make sure his mind stays out of the past.

"Percy!"

Percy lost the fight versus himself. His body had overcame his mind and he no longer controlled what flashbacks he kept at bay.

_What should he do? Artemis was going to be here any minute! If he tries to explain, then the hunt will capture him and he will be brought back to serve Olympus where he will be used…again. No! That's not gonna happen. And besides, even if Artemis would believe him, it'll be too late. It'll take too much time, and those stupid giants would've found a way to make sure their trap worked._

_He couldn't defeat the two giants without Artemis help either._

_He had to make a decision fast. If Artemis gets here, she will fall into the trap, which will send the first person it comes into contact with—along with the creator of the trap—to another dimension._

_He was left with no other choice. This was the best option. Percy took a deep breath. This wasn't the first time he's done something extremely painful for that goddess. Thalia would never forgive him if he didn't save her goddess when he could've. Percy would've never forgiven himself if he allowed Thalia hurt because his mistress was gone. Nico was more than old enough to not rely on him. This was the best choice._

_With that, Percy stepped to the trap. And because of the trap's function, he was transported to another dimension, along with the giants._

* * *

"What!" some Olympians complained.

"So that's how those giants disappeared" Athena mused aloud and then added, "But how was he able to keep them in that dimension at bay? Shouldn't he have died?"

"That was the sad part. His godly powers from his parent kept the giants from exiting their dimension, and just enough to heal himself, but he could not fight back—much to the giants pleasure. Although they were restrained from leaving that place, they had a beloved demigod (they found out about his identity) stuck with them. At first they tried to kill him so they could escape, but his powers did not allow that. All the wounds healed. So those motherfuckers could torture him for all eternity. This is why I don't blame him for hating his godly parent. The one thing that his parent gave him—powers—and it was the cause of him going through one of the most grotesque torture of all" Ares spat. The Olympians shifted uncomfortably with guilt that they might be the godly parent that Ares was referring to.

"But he did escape, didn't he?" Artemis asked even though she knew the answer.

"Why sister! Is that _concern_ I hear! And one for a boy at that!" Apollo cheerfully said.

Ares snapped. "How much of a child can you be, Apollo?! I just told you that my Ace—someone who isn't even a god!—got captured voluntarily so that your sister will not be, and you use him for pitiful jokes?!"

Apollo mumbled a sorry. Ares wasn't done.

"Do you wish to know what _torture_ he had to through to spare _your_ sister?! Huh?! As a mockery of his sacrifice, they got they used _Olympian Silver_ to _brand_ him instead of iron" The goddesses gasps here "And do you know what kind of fire they used to heat the silver?!" The Olympians gulp fearing the answer they knew: Greek Fire.

"HELLFIRE!"

Oh by the gods! Hellfire was a thousand times worse!

"And what they branded on him was a scar that would never leave: the symbols of the goddess he had saved. But that was only the first! The first of all the torture! His powers started to heal him, but he even wasn't half-healed when they started torturing him again! And to keep the pain at its peak, they only wounded him within the scar they had created! Now do you have the conscience to mock him when he took every pain when Artemis was supposedly the receiver?!

"Oh! But that's not all! Did you know that he did not even—not even _once_—blame or regret saving you, Artemis? In fact! He made _you_ the reason to _endure_ instead of choosing to selfishly let the giants loose and go back to Earth so he could use all of his powers to fight back or to heal himself!

When he escaped, he was so traumatized—and this is an understatement of an understatement—that he couldn't even talk proper sentences, and I had only glimpsed of one retched memory of his stay in that damned dimension

Let me show it to you, if what I said of what he did isn't enough to gain all of your oh so precious oh so wanted trust!

* * *

Percy was now trembling uncontrollably. But this would be over soon. He could feel Hestia helping him burning memories in his mind. He just had to endure the flash backs.

He flashbacked into the one memory Ares had been able to get out of him

_He was screaming…he thought. He wasn't sure. He couldn't hear his own scream because the pain itself was roaring in his brain, growling at his skin, and ringing so loud in his ears._

_He had used up all his tears. There was no point in crying._

_What had he done to go through this? Percy thought. And he was glad to have asked that question, because he remembered that he had helped Artemis by doing this._

_If he didn't do this, then they would be doing this to Artemis, so no, he was not going to chicken out and die and let this stupid fools free to find Artemis again, he will endure…this was for Thalia…for Artemis. He had held the sky in her stead, he would feel all this pain in her stead, over and over again._

* * *

"How long was he stuck?" Artemis croaked after Ares had shown them the memory…they saw it in the Ace's point of you, and they felt the Ace's resolve strengthen at the thought that he had saved her from all this pain—as if as long as it was not her, then it was worth it.

"59 days," Ares said and the Olympians sighed at the thought that at least he wasn't stuck too long. "But time is different from every dimension, so to us, it was 59 days. But to him it was—"

* * *

The flash backs were over and he heard Hestia sigh and put a hand on his heart. Percy smiled at the warmth. It was no matter. His Patron would always be there for him, and they were all just memories. Memories that he will gladly keep on seeing if it meant that the result—Artemis and Thalia's safety—was the same. Even if he had to relieve memories…memories of almost two years of worth…memories worth 590 days.

* * *

**A/N:**

**First of all, Thanks for the Reviews guys.**

**First week sucked, if any of you were wondering.**

**ANYWAY, there's a 50% chance that this will be my only update this weekend being the latter of the chance that I will update another tomorrow. BUT I think I'll write chapters in advance this weekend so that I can update a few during weekdays!**

**YOSH! Again, thanks for the revs and the views guys, i appreciate them**


	25. Chapter 25

An image shimmered.

"Thank gods, the IM worked"

Percy could hear the voice coming from it. He knew that voice. "Thalia" he sighed in relief. He had wondered what happened to her.

"Percy! Where are you? Where's Artemis?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Don't worry, Hestia teleported me in one of our cottages, I think. How's Nico?" Percy asked

"Napping in the igloos. He was unconscious and bleeding. Pisto was pissed because he had red stripes and he looked like a high breed of a tigress"

"His master is bleeding and all he cares about is his fur?" Percy asked raising an eyebrow. Thalia laughed, but her mood changes serious again.

"Where's Artemis?" Thalia asked. Percy shifted uncomfortably.

"Why, is anything wrong in the campsites?"

"No, they're still fighting, but sooner or later their gonna notice Artemis's absence...well, at least you aren't a jackalope right now. GODS, how the hell am I going to explain all of this! Good thing, Nico wasn't there yet. Wait. Did Artemis see your face? Your cloaks were tattered"

Percy thought about it. "I don't think so. Hestia says that the Olympians are having a meeting…I don't know what it's about. Hestia didn't tell me"

"It's probably about you kelp head. This is a disaster. What the hell are we supposed to do? What the hell am _I _supposed to do? Oh gods, this is all my faul—"

"Thalia!"

"What am I gonna do? Artemis is gonna _hate_ m—"

"Thalia" Percy groaned

"Im gonna get kick ou—"

"Thalia, would you ju—"

"Or maybe this is a sign. Maybe I should quit or something? And I'll go join the othe—"

"THALIA! We could just explain that it was all just a misunderstandi—"

"And then what, Percy? Pretend? Again? And then slip up, make some excuse? Until when? I hate lying to my sisters. And I especially hate lying to Artemis. Let's just get this ov—"

"But what about the hunt? You _love_ the hunt"

"And I love our family, Percy. Plus, I love hunting, but they could do without me. Phoebe can lead; Annabeth can be second in command. I only joined hundreds of years ago because of that damned prophecy—"

"I never got to thank you for passing a prophecy that almost got me killed, by the way"

"—and I'm grateful for them taking me in, but—"

"I'm not gonna make you chose, Thals. I promised Artemis that I wasn't going to make anyone chose"

"You're not making anyone chose, Per—"

There was a scream in the IM.

"GAH! PISTO WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO EAT ME?!"

Thalia turned around and Percy could see her background. Nico had awakened and a red stripped Lion was chasing him.

"Don't decide anything yet, Thalia" Percy says stirring them back to the conversation

"But Perc—"

Percy will have none of it. "I want to talk to Nico"

"Kelp Hea—"

"Nico, Thals. Now." Percy says.

Thalia huffed in frustration. "Fine!" and stomped away.

"_Please deposit one drachma to continue this IM for the next five minutes_"

Before Percy could lift himself out of his bed and get a drachma, an image appeared. Nico had already deposited one.

"Hey, bro. Thalia told me. Can I say that you guys were like—stupid much?" Nico says mockingly.

"Shut up," Percy groaned.

"I know, I know, this is serious. Should we go ask for my father's help and summon hundreds of monsters and fake our own deaths already? That's still an option" Nico says with a shrug

"Yeah, and risk letting the Olympians know that Hades also knows about our existence from the start? No way. They wouldn't stand for it. It's bad enough that Hestia, who's still not an Olympian, is in on our secret, but your father declining to be the 13th Olympian and all, that can't be good"

"I guess that'd be bad. So what're we gonna do? You can't just expect Artemis to be all mushy-I-forgive-you-and-I'll-go-back-to-almost-tru sting-you just because you explained it was a misunderstanding. Plus, because of this little incident, the Hunters will mistrust us again. I dunno what's Ares planning but he said we had to gain their trust"

"Wait. How much secrets have the Pack told the Hunt?" Percy asked.

"Hmm? From what J told me before Pisto decided to eat my head, they're kinda misleading the Hunters and instead of telling them our actual secrets, all their telling them is their personal lives."

Percy let out of laugh, "their mistrustful as ever, huh?"

Nico grinned, "What did you expect? Well, they do know about our Three Pillars"

"It should be alright. I've already slipped up and told Artemis about our Duty, Dignity, and Respect since that night before the CTF at camp"

"YOU DID?!"

Oops. Percy had slipped. "Er.."

"When?!" Percy and his slippery mouth. He told him about it plus his conversation with Thalia earlier.

Nico sighs. "Dude, what the hell are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna get out priority straight" Percy decided

"Huh"

"Treis Tracitum, Nico. Treis Tracitum" Percy says. Oh. Nico understood. Their prioties. Treis Tracitum. That's latin for The Three Secrets.

Nico understood and has realized again the importance of all of this. This was no game. Those Three Secrets must be kept secret. Not even everyone in the Pack knew about this. The Three Secrets that started everything.

"What are you going to do with the Artemis situation?" Nico asked. Percy told him. Nico's eyes widened. "Dude, you are doing the opposite of Primus. That's IDIOTIC!" Nico was right. He was going to break Primus—the First of the Secrets. But he needed to do it.

"Nico, I want you to do two things," Percy said seriously.

"But—"

"Tell B to go to _them_ and warn _them_ that they need to be extra careful"

"But—"

"Nico, _they_ need to be careful. They are the Deftrus—our Second Secret. And they must stay that way. No matter what happens, we won't let _them_ get dragged into this."

"Perc—"

"Secondly, I want you to recheck the scrolls"

"The Scrolls?" Nico was caught off guard. Why would he need to do that?

"Yes, track the scroll's essence down. Make sure we _completely_ destroyed them. Got it? I want you to recheck and recheck until you're sure that the only way anyone else will know what's in them is if they open our skull and cut our brains into half"

"Alright, Percy. But it's been hundreds of years. Why check now? Tertius has always been the easiest Secret to keep"

"I'm just making sure. I'll have to check on Hypnos and Morpheus later to make sure they strengthen the dream and sleep barrier on Thalia and your heads. And the third thing, make sure Thalia doesn't do anything rash"

"But Percy, she hates it—"

"Nico"

"Fine" Nico muttered. "But if this all back fires, I'm blaming you. This is crazy, Percy!" Nico says which makes Percy laugh. Nico groans. "I don't even know why I follow you" he mutters

"It's because you're my little brother, now, hurry up and go do what I've told you to do!" Percy says and Nico salutes and slashes the IM away. The last thing Percy saw was a small smile from Nico that came from Percy calling him his little brother.

Now, time to go on with the plan. Hopefully, he won't be a jackalope after this.


	26. Chapter 26

**OH MY GODS. I THOUGHT I UPDATED CHAPTER 25 LAST WEEK. SORRY OUT I ONLY MANAGED TO SAVE IT IN THE DOC MANAGER AND FORGOT TO PUBLISH O.o**

* * *

Artemis was in a mental turmoil. She paced back and forth inside her palace. She need to apologize to the…the…_boy_. Yes, that's right. She should. But what should she do with her lieutenant? But Thalia was only trying to help him.

But then, there's this nagging feeling that Thalia was hiding something a lot from her recently.

After a few more minutes of rethinking about the things she wanted to do, and rehearsing all the lines she wanted to say, Artemis went out to go get this over with.

She paused as the gates of the palace before her closed. She did not know where to go! She did not know where the Ace is!

Her eyes scrunch up at the realization, and before she could do anything about it, she burst into big flames.

Percy was pacing back and forth.

Was this safe?

No.

Would he be a jackalope when this is over?

Probably.

Is this important?

It's for Thalia.

Is this risky?

Tartarus yeah.

Will she be okay with it?

Hopefully.

Is this the best plan?

Nope.

But will he go through with it?

Of course.

Sure?

Yup.

As the 'yup' resounded in Percy's head, he had officially closed off any hesitation on doing this.

Now, the only problem was….getting her alone without getting himself killed by her.

Maybe Hestia would help—oh gods. He forgot about his patron. This was dangerous. Would his patron allow him to do this? Wait. Would Mars _not_ kill him for this?

Gods.

As if as a sign, a column of fire appeared in front of the porch of the ranch Percy was healing in.

When the flames disappeared into the wind, the image of the moon goddess appeared.

She looked a bit shocked.

So did Percy.

But he couldn't help but notice how even though Artemis was completely surprised, she still had this graceful and elegant aura with her.

Artemis was very surprised when she realized she was teleported.

Then she processed that with the flames and all, it was Hestia who transported her.

Artemis opened her mouth to start the apology, but closed it again…

When she….

Realized….

That she….

Was looking….

At the Ace…..

…

The…Ace…

T-t-the Ace

…

THE A-a-a-ace of the p-p-pack

….

Without….

WITHOUT THE HOOD.

WITHOUT THE CLOTH.

WITHOUT THE GOGGLES.

With him wearing his actual face.

Percy's hand shot to his face. Oops, the hood.

Oh well, that was the plan in the first place wasn't it?


	27. Chapter 27

"Hey, Lady Artemis," Percy smiles awkwardly. Artemis blinked slowly.

"Perseus"

It wasn't a question. And she breathed the name out. It was a soft statement. And then…

"Perseus!"

Percy, crazy that he did, let out a laugh. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Lady Artemis?"

"But…what happ—" Artemis started to stutter but she stopped herself, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and gave Percy a composed look. Percy frowned.

"Tell me everything, now," Artemis said coolly. Yes, this definitely bothered Percy. He'd rather the virgin goddess of the moon Artemis who was blatant and outspoken about everything she hated, disliked, and wanted, than the formal calculating semi-Athena like Artemis goddess of the Hunt. Though, Percy thought remembering his good friend, if it were up to Leo, he'd fall for the ice goddess of the Hunt aura Artemis was sending Percy there and then.

"Alright, Lady Artemis." Percy says with a short bow to show respect. "Would you like to take it inside?"

* * *

"Oh. So he's in the ranch telling mi'lady—say what?!"

Nico gulped. Damn Percy. Thalia had known something was up with Nico right away. Damn damned Percy. How could Percy not have known that Thalia would sense that Nico was keeping something from her right away? Now Nico had to endure the torture known as Thalia.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?! Wait, did Poseidon discover Percy already and got so mad that he really replaced Percy's head with kelp?! Because that would certainly explain why he's so stupidly dumping Primus in the trash can to Artemis!"

"But Thalia—"

"PRIMUS! Our first most important secret!"

"Thals—"

Thalia took a step towards Nico in anger

"This is dangerous! How dare he! He maybe what Primus is all about but this is waaaay too important! Doesn't he know that?!"

"Don't blame me!" Nico yelped.

"AGH!" Thalia screamed.

"You sound like Khufu" Nico couldn't help but say. Thalia glared at him. Okay, so maybe mentioning their old friend the baboon was very inappropriate in this situation, but still, he couldn't help remember the time when Percy introduced them to the Egyptians. But that was another story to tell in a different time—preferably in a time where Thalia wasn't screaming at Nico.

"You know Percy and his plans. Their always crazy. Plus, he gave as errands to d—"

"Errands! He goes and destroys secret Primus and he goes and tell us we have to do errands!"

"Ugh. I don't have time. It involves the other two secrets, lightning mcqueen. Now, you're not supposed to know about this. Either shut up and leave me alone, or help me with it"

Thalia groaned. "Okay, fine. What does he want us to do?"

"He wants to have some of the Pack check on…you know…_them_."

"_Them?_ What? Why? Are _they_ in trouble?" Thalia asked concerned.

"No. But Percy wants them to go low for a while. If Treis Tracitum gets discovered, Percy wants to make sure that Deftrus is the last one anyone finds out about"

"Okay? Next errand?"

"We have to recheck the scrolls"

"The scrolls? Why? We've destroyed it."

"Percy wants to make sure, besides, I get his point. If we already destroyed it, but we can still track it when we recheck, then we haven't destroy it properly."

"Alright"

"Oh, and we'll pay a visit to Ypy and Morph. Gotta recheck our mind shields"

Thalia laughed at the names. "Only you would nickname Hypnos and Morpheus like that, death breath"

Nico rolls his eyes. And then smiles to himself. It's been a long time his spent a lot of time with Thalia. He had miss her.

"Why are you grinning like a fool?" Thalia asked.

Nico blushes. Thalia wouldn't stop laughing at him if he admitted what he thought.

"I was just thinking about how you're not gonna keep up with me when we go back and recheck the scrolls" Nico smirks at her

"Oh, you are so on"

* * *

Percy had just started the fire by the fire place in the cabin. He smiled at the feel of the flame, and went his way towards the coach to sit beside Artemis. For a moment, they just stared at the flames. Neither of them knew how to open the subject they knew they would be talking about for the rest of the day. When Percy's ADHD couldn't take it anymore, he said

"It makes me comfortable. The fire."

Artemis laughed, which Percy thought was mellifluous. "Oh I wonder why," Artemis sarcastically says.

"It feels weird you know? I feel so comfortable with fire, but just as at home in the cold water"

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You still go to bodies of water?"

Percy looked at her bemused. "Why wouldn't I? I can't stay away from them. It's like removing a part of myself"

"What? Then how come Poseidon never felt you in his domain?"

Percy smiles softly. Artemis hadn't seen that goofy smile in hundreds of years. "You know, I have gotten more powerful since I disappeared," Percy says. _Or rather, I have come across power, and that is why I have disappeared_. Just to change the subject, Percy asked

"What were you doing before Hestia had whisked you away to this place?"

Artemis eyes widened. She forgot what she wanted to tell him. Her eyebrows scrunch up. She moved closer to Percy, which surprised him. She gently brushed off his cloak to reveal him shirtless. She frowned more—which Percy took in a wrong way and blushed because he was embarrassed of his scars—but before he could push her away, she had touched the moon shaped scar and traced it.

Percy had to stop himself from taking in a sharp intake of breath at her touch. Artemis thought that the spark from her fingers were caused by the friction when she had traced the scar.

"Why hadn't you told me that you had save me and had to endure torture?"

At the mention of it, Percy's sea green eyes turned stormy. He moved away from her. For a moment, he had been distracted by the sudden absence of Artemis touch. Gods, he thought, contact with goddesses really shouldn't be legal. But that had not been enough for him to forget the cold feeling whenever 'being tortured' was mentioned.

"Don't tell me I shouldn't have done it," Percy said. "Please, tell me I was stupid, but don't tell me I shouldn't have done it. Of course, I did it. It was _you_. You who should've turned me to a jackalope long before, but trusted me to make sure the 'd angelos and the hunt got to camp when I was fourteen. You who took the sky up for who used to be _my_ Annabeth. You who voted everytime in a council meeting that I shouldn't be killed. And Thalia. Gods, if you got cap—and she—I…no, it was worth it. You were worth it. Saving Thalia from losing you was worth it. So please don't tell me I shouldn't have done it."

Artemis smiled. Yes, only Perseus Jackson would've notice simple things like that and thought of it as huge favors and good deeds and feel gratitude-bound.

"I wasn't going to tell you that. I was going to apologize"

"Oh" Percy says, then, "You were going to what?"

"Apologize, and thank you"

"Oh"

"Well…I…you don't need to thank—"

"Of course, I need to, Perseus, and after all the ways my hunters and I mistreated you this past month!"

"But you didn't know who I was so it was understandable!"

"Just accept the apology and thank you, Perseus," Artemis groaned. Percy blushed. "Alright, Lady Artemis. Apology accepted," then Percy smiled, "And you're welcome"

Artemis looked at Percy properly—as in really looked at him—for the first time in years when he smiled. Nothing much changed from him. Although his body looked more toned, he was till the goofy 17 year old from before with unruly hair and his famous sea green eyes.

Percy thought if Artemis stared—no, glared at him any longer, he would blush shyly and hide behind the sofa. Artemis silver analytical stare almost rivalled Athena's stormy calculative eyes. Thinking those thoughts, Percy was completely unprepared for the question that popped out of Artemis's lips.

"Why did you disappear, Perseus?"

If Percy was drinking water, he could've spit taken then and there.

"Er, can we not talk about it?" Percy hope tentatively smiling and hoping she'd say yes.

"Of course not"

"Eh, I've revealed myself already. Isn't that enough for now?"

"Surely you didn't think that revealing yourself wouldn't make me want to bombard you with questions! You disappeared! Suddenly! And I want to know why the hunt couldn't find you!"

Percy took a moment. "Alright, but anything you hear, no other god or goddess should know"

"Of course"

"And I can't tell you everything"

"Why?!"

"It's…important, Lady Artemis. The Pack has its reasons. Some things are better off unknown. You have to trust me.

"How can I when you can't trust me"

"It's not that!"

"But it is!"

"You trusted me when I was Perseus Jackson, why is the Ace of the Pack any different?!"

They were silent for a while.

"I promise, I'll tell you as much as I can"

"Alright"

Percy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where should I start?" Percy asked. Artemis thought for a while before asking, "Why had Hestia teleported me to you when you tried so hard for hundreds of years not to be known?"

"Oh," Percy says. "I kinda wanted to reveal myself to you"

Artemis was bemused. "Why?"

Percy took a deep breath. Here goes "Because of Thalia"

"Thali—oh" Suddenly, all the pieces fit together.

Artemis's throat became dry. Her lieutenant had known all along? She then dared to ask another question, "then your lieutenant would be…"

"Yeah, Nico 'D Angelo"

Artemis stared at the fire. "I should've known" she whispers. "I should've known" she repeats a little bit louder. "After all, you three have always been inseparable. And…and the Pack's stories. They said you discovered something about the gods with your lieutenant and another demigod….and that you three created your companions…Nix? That's it, isn't it? She was the third demigod. She created Nix?"

Percy nodded.

"I always wondered how she came across with a tigress with black fur and white stripes—wait, if Nico D Angelo is your lieutenant, does that mean that…Hades knows—"

"Yes"

Artemis was getting a headache. Too many questions are formulating in her head. "This is confusing. Can you start from the start?"

Percy paused.

"Alright"


	28. Chapter 28

"You know about the Three Pillars, don't you, Lady Artemis?" Percy asked and she shifted uncomfortably. Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You know, the one I told you at the roof top?"

"Dignity, Duty, and Respect" Artemis says remembering, though she wasn't quite sure that was it. Percy nodded slowly. "The Pack has Three Pillars, and in turn, we have the Three Secrets—Treis Tracitum. Those three secrets are practically the foundation of the Pack. The Tres Tracticum is practically our mandate. It has three parts: Primus, Deftrus, and Tertius. I'm practically shattering Primus for just showing you my face"

"Why?" Artemis asked. Percy ignored her.

"I was happy back then," Percy asked. Artemis wanted to interrupt, but he looked too much in thought. "Why wouldn't I? We were successful in locking Gaea up for who knows how long; my best friend was alive, my brother and sister—Thalia and Nico—were alive, in fact, almost everyone was alive. The gods rewarded us, we became immortals, and there was some sort of peace. Yeah, I was definitely happy."

Ah, Artemis thought, he's talking about the time of the Giant War.

"I was content too. But then, the new Great Prophecy happened," Percy's voice turned sour. "According to the third Great Prophecy, a child from each of the elder gods, shall bring Olympus at its peak." Artemis nodded. She remembered. "I didn't mind having the burden. I was shipped off to Atlantis; Nico was taken to the Underworld—but he didn't mind, he was used to there anyway; and Thalia was taken away from the Hunt to train in Olympus. We were almost never allowed to go out of our domains, remember?"

Artemis nodded again. "Thank you, by the way," Artemis whispered. Percy raised an eyebrow and when he met her silver eyes, he knew what she meant.

"Nothing to thank me for, Lady Artemis. We were being held prison in our fathers' domains. Well, they were being held prison by Hades and Zeus, but Poseidon wasn't really strict to begin with," Artemis couldn't help but notice the way that Percy almost spat his father's name.

"When I was bored with training, I would go anywhere. Usually I'd Im Annabeth. When I heard that Thalia and Nico weren't allowed to go anywhere, I quickly set off to sneak them out. I was seventeen, and we were having fun: fighting monsters, saving demigods, and we loved the thrill of the thought that we could get captured every time.

"Thalia always looked like she was in a funeral after the sneaking out and she felt so hyper during the sneaking out. That's when I realized that she was hyper because sneaking out felt like the Hunt. That's when I decided to almost kill myself to learn a new power. It was essential to help sneak Thalia back to camp."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You almost killed yourself to learn something that would help you bring my lieutenant back to the Hunt and you still won't accept my thank you?" Artemis laughed. Hearing her laugh was like hearing Apollo's music—you never get tired of it. And then Artemis paused as if a thought suddenly crossed her mind "You never did tell me how you managed to sneak Thalia away from Olympus and back to the Hunt all those years ago" she says.

Percy laughed. "I was getting to that part. When I learned the trick, I quickly went off to Olympus to see Thalia. This is the trick that helped me sneak her out," he says and puts a hand forward. An amount of water materialized in front of them and took the shape and colour of Thalia Grace. "Hmmm…the nose isn't right" Percy says and attempts to fix Thalia's clone's nose—which only made it worse—which made him fix it more—which made it worse and worse.

Artemis couldn't help but laugh. "You know, it's not nice playing with your cousins face," Artemis says laughing. Percy was grinning and he shrugged. "She's my cousin, she'll get over it," Percy says chuckling. "Well, it's notnice playing with _my_ lieutenant's face" Artemis says in a serious face as if daring him to tell her _It's you, you'll get over it_. Percy paled and gulped.

Upon his expression, Artemis laughed and laughed. "Ha-ha-ha!" Percy says which only made Artemis laugh more. "You really scared me, Lady Artemis!" Percy says. Artemis stopped laughing and ask, "Why won't you just call me Artemis, Perseus?" she asks though she did not know why. Percy laughed a laugh. "Why don't you just call me Percy, Lady Artemis?" Artemis glared at him, he glared at her back. After a moment of silent glaring, they broke into a fit of laughter.

"Well anyway, at that time, when I made the clone, I could barely keep myself from falling unconscious. It took a lot of me. And then I'd have Nico shadowtravel me to Olympus, switch Thalia with a clone, and bring her to your camp. After that, I spend time in the sea, because I'm stronger there, and I can be able to maintain the clone better. But you know? Even underwater, I was already bed ridden just to keep control of the clone. That's why I only got to sneak Thalia in for a week to the Hunt….Sorry about that, you know? I wanted her to stay longer"

Artemis looked at him incredibly. Seriously? He was apologizing. She shook his head. Only Percy would.

"One day, Nico and I sneaked Thalia from Olympus. On the way to the Hunt, we were attacked by a pack of monsters. I was too tired from creating Thalia's clone, so I couldn't fight properly. It didn't matter. Thalia and Nico were enough, but in excitement to go to the Hunt Thalia let her guard down and from the slightest chance, got hit in the head by a monster, which left Nico defending for us. But there were a lot of monsters. He could've probably taken them on alone, but Thalia and I were being dead weights.

"Nico decided to shadow travel us, but at that exact moment, a monster threw a claw that could've killed Thalia, and in Nico's panicked, carelessly shadow travelled us without a destination in mind—"

Artemis gasps, "But wouldn't that mean—?"

"Yes," Percy breathed. "We were stuck in the Shadows. But for some reason, we got pulled out of the Shadows and arrived at some kind of island as if the island was our destination all along…Artemis…I can't tell you more. What happens next will be Tertius, the first and Third Secret of the Pack"

"What?"

"Treis Tracitum is arranged from of the most important to the least, Primus being the most important. I've already broken Primus because the secret Primus is—no one can know that Percy Jackson lives—"

"Why is that so import—"

"—and, there's Deftrus. Primus may be the most important, but Deftrus—it's personal. I'll damn Primus and Tertius first before I break Deftrus. So, I'm sorry, Lady Artemis. This is were you just have to trust me" Percy says looking straight in Artemis's silver eyes.

Artemis considered her options. Yes, it's Percy Jackson. He is to be trusted….but it's been 700 years. Everything changes with time…but he's under Hestia so…but Artemis knew for sure that she wasn't allowed to tell _anyone—or rather, anygod or anygoddess—_ about this…was this worth betraying her father, Zeus's, and the other Olympian's trust?

"No, Perseus. You told me you'd tell me everything"

"I didn't! I told you that I'd tell you what I could. And I can't!"

"You can't just expect me to trust you with such little—"

"I showed my face to you, didn't I?! Isn't Primus enough!"

"Then, Tertius?"

"If you knew Tertius, you'd kill me!"

"How can I trust you when you say you know something that's worth you being killed by a goddess that doesn't usually kill people without good reason!"

Percy wanted to shout, scream. He was frustrated. Gods, maybe faking his death, like what Nico suggested, wasn't such a bad idea….well, it was too late now. He groaned.

"Fine. I'll tell you Tertius—but you must swear an Accord"

Artemis eyes widened. "HOW DO YOU KNOW OF ACCORDS?!" This is preposterous! No one below the level of a god should know about making Accords! It's a kind of swearing that asks you to bind on an agreement—but breaking it is worse than breaking an oath on the River Styx. Accords were usually used during the war at the end of the golden age, and the wars before them to assure loyalty. They call those who swore an Accord Allies. That's when it clicked.

The dream Artemis had seen! The one with the Ace—or who she knows now as Perseus—which was Morpheus and Hypnos. Gods! How could she have been stupid? _We are your allies_ they said. It wasn't 'allies' with an 'a' but 'ALLIES' of an Accord!

"You…" Artemis says as she realizes all this. "Hypnos and…and"—percy nodded—"and Morpheus—who else are your Allies, Perseus?!" Artemis answered. Percy's eyes widened.

"I can't tell you that—unless you swear an Accord. I protect their secrecy!"

"Tell me who your Allies are, and I'll swear an Accord. I swear on the River Styx"

Percy gasps. "No!"

"What? I thought, that's what you wanted? For me to swear an Accord!"

"I don't want you to swear an Accord! I only said that so you won't push me into telling you one of our Treis Tracitum!"

"But I am perfectly willing to—"

"No! If you swear an Accord, your first loyalty will be on me—no, on Tertius. You shall be a traitor if the Olympians shall know of this! I cannot drag you to that! The Olympians are your family!"

"If this oh so precious Tertius is dangerous enough to make me a traitor then the more that I should know! Tell me Tertius and give me just that one reason for me to trust you. You wouldn't have just disappeared so suddenly as you did 700 hundred years ago, so tell me that the reason you disappeared for is worth it!"_ That whatever dragged my Aunt Hestia and my acting like a brother Ares is worth it!_

Percy wasn't going to budge. No. He wasn't going to drag Artemis into this. Artemis was good. Artemis was kind. Artemis deserved better than to be dragged into this! _Hush, son. Tell her_. It was Hestia's voice. Percy mentally screamed a groan. Can't someone he like NOT get in danger….whoa whoa whoa, like? No. nope. No. He meant like as in _appreciated_. Just to make it clear.

"Hypnos, and Morpheus, Mars, and Hestia" Percy breathed out. Artemis knew he was talking about about the Allies. "Who else?" Artemis asked.

"Iris" Percy says. "So that's why you can IM as freely as you do!" Percy nodded. "And Hades?" Artemis asked. Percy shook his head. "He knows, though, but he acts as if he sees nothing. But that doesn't matter. He could've gotten us killed—or worse, start a war, but he didn't. So I'm grateful that he did nothing." Then Percy gave two or three more names of Allies. "And that's all of them," Percy says.

Artemis takes in a deep breath, and starts speaking in Ancient Greek. Then she momentarily shifted to Roman and said the words in Latin. There were golden words floating around her. As she finished, the golden glow was gone. It was finished. The Accords were done.

Percy shifted uncomfortably. After a few moments of silence, "So we were shadow travelled to a weird island. You know what's weird? The Island was just a cliff—but not any cliff. The Island-cliff land thingy was so high that it touched the sky. And below, we were surrounded by the sea. And underneath the cliff, was a cave. It was as if the Big Three's domains were all merged into one big place where they existed harmoniously. It was beautiful there. We made off to get shelter inside the cave. I made the water that surged the cave ice so that we had a floor. But when I thought that we went inside to rest, the moment we stepped inside the cave, all of us were all automatically well, healthy, energized and healed.

"That's when we decided to explored the cave. That's when we found it." Percy says his gaze fixed in the fire.

"Found what"

Percy's eyebrows scrunched. "Tertius" Artemis waited for further explanation. After a long moment, Percy breathed in and closed his eyes. "That moment changed everything. I knew we were never going to be the same. We discovered Tertius" Artemis couldn't wait any longer"What is Tertius, Perseus?"

Percy breathed out, narrowed his eyes at the fire, calmed himself and then looked Artemis in the eye seriously.

"The truth about the most powerful Olympian"

Artemis eyes were knit with confusion, speculation, and utter surprise.

But that wasn't all Percy had to say.

"And the Weakness of the Gods"


End file.
